In explanation he said, “The one will set a flame agoing among my cotton and the other among my girls. I won’t admit such dangerous things into my establishment. The risk is too great.”

"Pioneer In the Long Distance Transmission of Electrical Power"

by Gladys T. Barron

"William Church Whitner, a native of Anderson, S.C.  To him belongs the exclusive distinction of being the pioneer in the actual use of high voltage generators and long distance transmission of power on a practical, usable basis."

Page 85, "Six Miles that Changed the Course of the South"  by Beth Ann Klosky.  Copies available in the Museum Gift Shop.

"Son, the way of an honest lawyer is rocky.  If you want to make a financial success, get this idea our of you head."  

William Whitner father, Major Benjamin Franklin Whitner quoted in "Six Miles that Changed the Course of the South"  by Beth Ann Klosky.  Copies available in the Museum Gift Shop.

Tesla realized that while doubling the voltage would halve the current and reduce losses by three-quarters, only an alternating current system allowed the transformation between voltage levels in different parts of the system.

This allowed efficient high voltages for distribution where their risks could easily be mitigated by good design while still allowing fairly safe voltages to be supplied to the loads.

He went on to develop the overall theory of his system, devising theoretical and practical alternatives for all of the direct current appliances then in use, and patented his novel ideas in 1887, in thirty separate patents.

Ohm's Law

Whitner, convinced his ideas were valid returned to Anderson in 1894 and leased a plant, in McFall's grist and flour mill at High Shoals on the Rocky River 6 miles east of town, for his newly formed Anderson Water, Light & Power Company. There he installed an experimental Stanley Electric Manufacturing Company 5,000 volt alternating current generator to attempt to generate and transmit electric power to the water system pumps at Anderson’s Tribble Street power and water yard.

Pre-dating the Niagara project’s high voltage test by two years (1896).

It worked, and ended up supplying enough power to light the city and also to operate several small industries in Anderson. The Charleston News and Courier promptly dubbed Anderson "The Electric City."

In 1897 Whitner’s initial success drew the attention of financial backers, which allowed him to replace the experimental plant with a 10,000 volt generating station at Portman Shoals, 11 miles west of town on the Seneca River. When it was placed in service on November 1, the Portman Shoals Power Plant was the first hydroelectric facility to generate high voltage power without step-up transformers in the nation and perhaps in the world.

Whitner, convinced his ideas were valid, returned to Anderson and leased High Shoals in 1894. Both Westinghouse and General Electric had refused to wind a motor for such high voltage but Whitner proved Tesla to be correct. .Soon, Anderson was christened "The Electric City."

Less than four years later, in 1895, William Whitner successfully transmitted electrical power from McFall's Mill at High Shoals on the Rocky River 6 miles to downtown Anderson. By 1897 he had built a larger generating station at Portman Shoals 11 mi. W on the Seneca River.

By freeing the textile industry from the need to have a readily available supply of water power William Whitner enabled the construction of the many mills in Anderson County.

The textile industry was the driving force behind Anderson’s economy from 1900 until the 1980’s and changed Anderson from a small agrarian community to the industrial based economy we enjoy today.

William Whitner made Anderson the “Electric City” and placed it on the leading edge of 19^th Century technology.

Paul K. Conkin, "Hot Humid, and Sad," Journal of Southern History, LXIV (February, 1998), page 11

Generation Park

Erected 2008 by To Better Anderson 100

Located at the intersection of North McDuffie Street and Whitner Street on North McDuffie Street, Anderson SC

Front Side

"In 1889, the City of Anderson contracted with a 26 year old native son, an engineering graduate of the University of South Carolina, to build a steam power plant and water system for the city. Keeping up with the engineering achievements of the day, William Church Whitner became convinced that the long distance transmission of electric energy using hydropower would be developed in Anderson. On May 1, 1895, a group of Anderson's business and community leaders ventured to McFall's Mill at High Shoals on the Rocky River to witness history or to watch Whitner's folly, whichever the case. W.C. Whitner, chief engineer of the Anderson Water, Light, and Power Company, had rented space in McGill's grist and flour mill to install an experimental 5,000 volt alternating current generator to attempt to generate and transmit electric power 6 miles from there to the water system pumps at the Tribble Street power and water yard in Anderson. It Worked! This was the first successful ling distance transmission of electricity in the South.

"Based upon this success, Mr. Whitner was able to secure the financial backing to construct a larger dam and power plant at Portman Shoals on the Seneca River, 11 miles west of this spot. At Portman Shoals, the Anderson Water, Light, and Power Company built a 10,000 volt generator facility. When it was placed in service on November 1, 1897, the Portman Shoals Power Plant was the first hydroelectric facility to generate high voltage power without step-up transformers in the nation and perhaps in the world. These generators served not only the Anderson water system, the city street lights, other commercial interests and private homes, but more importantly, Anderson Cotton Mill, the first cotton mill in the South to be operated by electricity transmitted over long distance lines. The course of industrial development in the South was forever changed. Due to its "unlimited" supply of electric power, The Charleston News and Courier dubbed Anderson "The Electric City" in 1895."

Generation Park

Erected 2008 by To Better Anderson 100

Located at the intersection of North McDuffie Street and Whitner Street on North McDuffie Street, Anderson SC

Reverse Side

"This generator, manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company on March 28, 1911, was one of 5 similar units still in service at the Portman Shoals Power Plant on December 9, 1960, when the plant was shut down for the final time due to impending flooding by the waters of Lake Hartwell. It was displayed for many years at the Coleman Recreation Center on Murray Avenue. This is an Alternating Current Generator that produced 1,390 KVA at 2,300 volts and 303 amps per terminal. It generated 2 phase, 60 cycle power and operated at 225 rpm. While the original generators at Portman Shoals were destroyed by flooding due to dam breaks and electric fires that plagued the plant in its first years, this generator was nonetheless manufactured at a time when electric power generation was in its infancy."

Thanks to: Historical Marker Database

http://www.hmdb.org/

Photos by Brian Scott, Greenville SC, August 23, 2008

Robert F. Durden’s history of Duke Power, “Electrifying the Piedmont Carolinas, The Duke Power Company, 1904-1997,” has an interesting account of the building of the dam on India Hook shoals. The story began with the work of William Church Whitner of Anderson, S. C., in 1896

At six o-clock in the morning on March 30, 1904 the first electricity generated on the Catawba River flowed from its source at India Hook shoals to the Victoria Cotton Mill in Rock Hill.

It was much cheaper to use the power of the river than it was to buy coal to generate steam power. Very quickly, every cotton mill in the area converted to electricity. Most households also installed electricity, if for no more than the "lights."

Besides receiving the first Catawba river generated electricity, Rock Hill and York County had a special interest in the men who made it possible. William Church Whitner was the engineer and designer of the plant at India Hook. Dr. Gill Wylie, a native of Chester and frequent visitor to Rock Hill was the major financier of the enterprise. Wylie became the chief stockholder and president of the Catawba Power Company. Then there was William States Lee, the brilliant engineer, whose family had once lived near Van Wyck in Lancaster County. Each of these three men contributed to the construction of the India Hook facility.

William C. Whitner, a native of Anderson, S.C. was a graduate in engineering from the University of South Carolina. His first work was in railroad engineering but a severe case of typhoid fever forced him into a long convalescense in his father's home. While there the town of Anderson asked him to build a water works systems and an electric plant. In 1890 he completed a steam-driven electric plant. It turned out to be too expensive.

Whitner's problem-solving mind soon conceived the idea of generating the electrictity using turbulent river water and then delivering the power by wire to its source. For advice he went to New York to see Nicholas Tesla, the great Serbian scientist who had perfected the alternating current motor.

Whitner returned to Anderson and leased High Shoals in 1894. Both Westinghouse and General Electric had refused to wind a motor for such high voltage but Whitner proved Tesla to be correct. .Soon, Anderson was christened "The Electric City."

Dr. Gill Wylie, like Whitner, was trained as an engineer at South Carolina College but had been persuaded by Dr. J. Marion Sims, a Lancaster native, to take up medicine instead. Dr. Sims, the "Father of Gynecology," had set up two New York hospitals, Woman's Hospital and Bellevue Hospital which had a medical college attached to it. After Wylie graduated from Bellevue, Sims gave him the task of setting up a model training school for nurses.

Wylie was the first doctor to train women as operating room nurses. Periodically he returned to his home area to recruit nurses. Doctors Fennell, Strait, Gaston, Lyle, and others in this area were Wylie's best source for recommendations. When in Rock Hill, Wylie, a very persuasive speaker, often gave lectures on public health. He was a one-man crusader for home screens, covered wells, and the abandonment of backyard privies.

On one of his Rock Hill missions, Wylie met William C. Whitner. Whitner had married Katherine Roddey, daughter of Capt. W. L. Roddey, one of Rock Hill's most well-to-do citizens. Whitner had an option on the old Carothers Mill property at Indian Hook shoals. Wylie's interest in engineering revived and the plans were laid for the Indian Hood shoals dam.

Whitner’s design was sound but the river was extremely difficult to tame. Excessive rains, mud, and washouts ran up construction costs. Whitner pulled out of the venture but Wylie and his brother, Dr. Robert Wylie, also a New York doctor, stuck with it in the hope they could sell for a profit.

Leaving William States Lee in charge of the India Hook plant, Wylie returned to his New York practice. One day a patient with a sore foot listened to Wylie's tale of the potential of electric power in the Catawba River. The patient was James Buchanan Duke, the tobacco tycoon. The rest is history.

Anderson, SC was the first city in the United States to have a continuous supply of  electric power and the first in the world to create a cotton gin operated by electricity.

William C. Whitner, a native of Anderson, was largely the man responsible for the place becoming known as “The Electric City.” Born on September 22, 1864, he attended and graduated from the University of South Carolina with a plan to become a lawyer. After his father talked him out of that career, Whitner went back to USC and worked as an assistant to a mathematics professor while studying civil engineering. He graduated from USC for the second time in 1885.

Whitner’s early work was in railroad engineering, but a severe case of typhoid fever forced him into a long convalescence in his father's home. While there the town of Anderson hired the 26 year old to build a water works systems and an electric plant. In 1890 he completed a steam-driven electric plant. It turned out to be too expensive.

Whitner conceived the idea of generating alternating current electricity using turbulent river water. For advice he went to New York to see Nicholas Tesla, the great Serbian scientist who had perfected the alternating current motor. A turf war was in progress between Thomas Edison, an advocate of direct current, and Tesla, an alternating current advocate.

George Westinghouse, another associate of Whitner's, supported AC from the sidelines - and later became the big winner in the deal.

Whitner returned to Anderson in 1894 and leased a plant, in McFall's grist and flour mill at High Shoals on the Rocky River 6 miles east of town, for his newly formed Anderson Water, Light & Power Company. There he installed an experimental 5,000 volt alternating current generator to attempt to generate and transmit electric power to the water system pumps at Anderson’s Tribble Street power and water yard.

It worked, and ended up supplying enough power to light the city and also to operate several small industries in Anderson. The Charleston News and Courier promptly dubbed Anderson "The Electric City."

In 1897 Whitner’s initial success drew the attention of financial backers, which allowed him to replace the experimental plant with a 10,000 volt generating station at Portman Shoals, 11 miles west of town on the Seneca River. When it was placed in service on November 1, the Portman Shoals Power Plant was the first hydroelectric facility to generate high voltage power without step-up transformers in the nation and perhaps in the world.

These Stanley Electric Company built generators served not only the Anderson water system, the city street lights, other commercial interests and private homes, but more importantly, Anderson Cotton Mill, the first cotton mill in the South to be operated by electricity transmitted over long distance lines.

The Portman Shoals power plant was the start of what became Duke Power (now Duke Energy), one of the largest energy companies in the country.

Thomas Edison and General Electric had refused to wind a motor for high voltage alternating current, but Whitner proved Tesla to be correct. Building upon his early success in Anderson, William Church Whitner developed hydroelectric power generating stations for a number of communities throughout the South, including Columbus, Griffin, and Elberton, GA.

Today, Whitner is remembered in several places of distinction in downtown Anderson, including a statue in front of the Anderson County Courthouse and a street named in his honor. Also, at the corner of McDuffie and Whitner Streets sits Generator Park. On the grounds of this 10,000 square-foot park stands the century-old generator that was operated by Whitner at the Portman Power Plant.

The first customer for power generated at India Hook dam was the Victoria Cotton Mills in Rock Hill. Joe Roddey, who owned Victoria Mills, was a brother-in-law of William Church Whitner.

The second customer was the Fort Mill Manufacturing Co. Several months later, cypress and chestnut poles laid by crews using mules and oxen, would carry electricity on copper wires to Charlotte. A new age had begun.

Louise Pettus is a renowned local historian. “Fort Mill History” is sponsored each

month by the Fort Mill Downtown Association. Check them out on the Web at

www.fortmilldowntown.com

Dr. Gill Wylie, a Chester native then practicing medicine in New York City , got interested in the future of electric power. Whitner, Lee and Wylie were all to play a major role in the building of the dam at India Hook shoals. They put together the Catawba Power Company with Wylie as president and Whitner as general manager and chief engineer. James B. Duke purchased the Catawba Power Co. and changed its name to Southern Power Co. Lee became its first president.  Duke Power's Lake Wylie

One of the most important developments in 20th century York County was the construction of Catawba Dam and Power Plant. In 1899, William C. Whitner founded the Catawba Power Company along with Dr. Gill Wylie and his brother Robert Wylie. Construction on the dam began in 1900 and took nearly four years to complete. Periodic flooding, terrain and the scale of the project made progress painfully slow. Upon their completion, the dam and power plant combined as to act as one of the most important engineering accomplishments in the southeastern United States during that period.

The initiative would ultimately result in the establishment of the Duke Power Company. Duke Power has developed a number of dams and hydroelectric facilities on the Catawba River in both North and South Carolina, over the years, and continues to grow its presence in the energy market. In fact, Lake Wylie’s importance to the region has expanded over the years. It now also supports both the Allen Steam Station and Catawba Nuclear Station with cooling water while acting as a dependable water supply for Rock Hill and Belmont, critical to viability of each towns development.

The original dam was rebuilt in 1924 and the lake's actual surface expanded with the additional height. The shoreline increase to approximately 325 miles as a result at Lake Wylie’s full pond elevation. [which is approximately 570.0 feet above sea level] This additional flooding of the undulating terrain surrounding the Catawba river north of the dam, gave birth to the prime lakefront now known as Tega Cay.

The Stanley Electric Company built generators served not only the Anderson water system, the city street lights, other commercial interests and private homes, but more importantly, Anderson Cotton Mill, the first cotton mill in the South to be operated by electricity transmitted over long distance lines.