Like the Pearl Street Station, Appleton’s grid produced and distributed direct current at 100 volts, give or take, and was used exclusively for powering incandescent lightbulbs—also of Edison’s manufacture and included in the kit. What quickly became clear to the town’s people and nascent utility men of Appleton is that maintaining a constant voltage is much easier with coal-powered dynamos, like the ones Edison was using in Manhattan, than with water-powered ones.
