A group of Minneapolis capitalists brought electricity to Gladstone in 1888. They built and equipped a generating plant just north of Delta Avenue on 7th Street. They erected poles and strung the wire and soon many homes and businesses were equipped with electric lights. (A note of interest; back then insurance companies imposed penalties on policies for homes with electricity.) In 1893 a fire destroyed the electric plant and the city was back to using kerosene lamps. In 1897 a vote to start a city electric plant was approved. The city purchased poles, wire and installed a new generator and electricity soon flowed in Gladstone again. The 1000 volt plant was open for business in January of 1898 and was operated by the Board of Fire and Water Commission. The city continued producing its own electricity until a contract was entered into with the Escanaba Light and Traction Company in approximately 1906. Since that time, the city has owned its own distribution lines but bought power from outside companies until a new power plant was built. On July 2, 1953 the construction of a 6,000 kilowatt steam generating plant was approved by the voters. The Gladstone municipal plant generated its first electricity on August 17, 1955, with Wilbur Montgomery as the first Superintendent. In June 1986, the City Commission voted to close down the plant after a second failing for air pollution controls and the financial loss the city would incur to keep the plant running. It was decided that it would be less expensive to purchase all power than to run it's own plant, which was not meeting the city's power needs and peaking power was already being purchased from an outside source.
