Less than 25 years after Birmingham’s founding in 1871, it became evident the city needed a central facility to provide electricity, particularly for the new streetcar system designed to connect downtown to surrounding neighborhoods. So in 1895, the Consolidated Electric Light Company constructed a small electrical plant on Powell Avenue next to the railroad lines. It was taken over a few years later by the Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Company. By 1905 the facility had more than doubled in size to occupy an entire block, and had begun offering steam heat to the central business district.
