Delmarvia Utilities Company
company · active 1913–
Wilmington, Delaware, utility company whose president Henry P. Moore applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission on Saturday 26 April 1913 for permission to begin installing an electric lighting system for Ocean City. The company had bought the franchise the Mayor and City Council had recently granted to John W. Brawner of Washington, and wanted to be ready for the season about to begin; the commission required it to file a formal application setting out in detail what it proposed to do.
In the record (1)
1913
Ocean City's electric light gets an owner: the town grants a franchise to John W. Brawner, and Delmarvia Utilities asks the state for leave to build the plant.
The Messenger of 3 May 1913, under LIGHT FOR OCEAN CITY: "Henry P. Moore, of Wilmington, Del., president of the Delmarvia Utilities Company, Saturday asked the Public Service Commission to grant permission for his company to begin the work of installing an electric lighting system for Ocean City. The company has secured the franchise recently granted to John W. Brawner, of Washington, by the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City, for the establishment of an electric light plant, and the Delmarvia Company wants to prepare for business of the season about to begin. The commission will require the Delmarvia company to file a formal application explaining in detail what it proposes to do." This answers a question the 1908 pass left open. Ocean City had electric light by September 1908 — the *Messenger* noted the lights going out with the summer trains — but nobody had been named as its owner. In 1913 the franchise is a tradeable municipal grant, sold on from a Washington promoter to a Wilmington utility company before a lamp is lit.
Source · checked 2026-08-06