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The first commerical production of coal begins in the mines around Richmond, Virginia. During the first documented mining of coal, 50 tons of coal was mined. (Exact date unknown.)
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Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity, despite the common belief. However, he did prove that lightening was nothing but large amounts of static electricity as was according to his theory. (Exact date unknown.)
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William Hart, a gunsmith, drilled the first commercial natural gas well in 1821 in Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York. The well was dug in the shale that out cropped the area and it was 27 feet in depth. (Exact date unknown.)
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Hot Springs, Arkansas, where, in 1830, Asa Thompson charged one dollar each for the use of three spring-fed baths in a wooden tub, and the first known commercial use of geothermal energy occurred. (Exact date unknown.)
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Edwin Drake, a career railroad conductor, devised a way to drill a practical oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. (Exact date unkown.)
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Rockefeller's efforts and advances caused petroleum to be the primary energy source not only in the United States, but also in societies around the world. (Exact date unknown)
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Michigan's Grand Rapids Electric Light and Power Company generated DC electricity, using hydropower at the Wolverine Chair Factory. A dynamo belted to a water turbine at the factory generated electricity to light 16 brush-arc lamps in the store front. (Exact date unknown)
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Thomas Edison built the first power plant. This power plant, Pearl Street Power Station, made electricity for 85 buildings. (Exact date unkown.)
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Scientists demonstrate the Chicago Pile-1, the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction. The world enters the nuclear age.
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The first nuclear power plant in the United States became operational in Shippington, Pennsylvania, in 1957.When nuclear power became a usable source of energy for producing electricity in the 1950s it was thought that it would be the new power for the future. (Exact date unknown.)
