HISTORICAL FACTS

Marissa Light Plant

It was soon after the turn of the 20th century that the Municipal Light Plant which furnished electricity for Marissa was built.  It was a small brick building located on the west side of town in the triangle formed by the railroad tracks and the road that leads to the country and the site of the Advance Mine.  When the plant was first built, it housed one engine, one generator and two boilers.

John McCreight tells of shocking wheat with two other men close to town one evening when they saw electric lights for the first time in Marissa.  They stopped their work and ran all the way into town to see the new lights.

The first superintendents were Ashley McKinley, J. R. Creighton, Albert Koppitz, Fred Beimfohr, Mr. Brown and John Heil.

The Illinois Power and Light Co. bought the Light Plant in 1925 and maintained an office here until l938.  Lee Campbell and John Heil were managers.