Historedia
AmericasEvent

SS Columbia launched at John Roach & Sons, Chester, Pennsylvania, and later lit by Edison's incandescent system

When
1880
Where
Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works; New York City
Episodes
2

The SS Columbia, a cargo and passenger steamship, was constructed in 1880 by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania. It became the first ship to use a dynamo for electric lights, marking the first commercial use of Edison's incandescent bulbs outside his laboratory. The ship was launched in February 1880 and lit in New York City in May 1880.

Episodes

  1. 1880-02-24 · Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine WorksLaunch

    The SS Columbia was launched at 11:40 am on February 24, 1880, at the John Roach & Sons shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania.

  2. 1880-05-02 · New York CityLighting

    The ship was lit for the first time on May 2, 1880, in New York City after Edison's personnel installed the lights.

Background and detail

Background. John Roach & Sons, founded in 1864, was a major shipbuilding firm. Its main facility, the Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, was acquired in 1871 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Chester, located on the Delaware River, was a business hub in the 1800s due to its access to shipping routes for raw materials and finished goods.

Construction. The SS Columbia was ordered in July 1879 as Hull No. 193 for the Oregon Steamship Company. Construction began in September 1879 at the John Roach & Sons shipyard in Chester. The ship was designed for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, which later owned it. Roach's firm was the nation's largest shipbuilder during this period.

Lighting. Henry Villard, president of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, ordered an Edison Lighting System for the Columbia after attending a demonstration in Menlo Park. This was Edison's first commercial order for light bulbs. Roach initially refused to install the bulbs due to fire concerns. The system was installed in New York City in May 1880.

People involved

Sources

  1. SS Columbia (1880) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-19
  2. John Roach & Sons Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-15
  3. Chester, Pennsylvania Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-07

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.