History

John W. Brawner

electric-light franchise holder · active 1913

Washington, D.C., man to whom the Mayor and City Council of Ocean City granted a franchise for the establishment of an electric light plant, shortly before 1913. He sold or assigned the franchise to the Delmarvia Utilities Company of Wilmington, which applied to the Maryland Public Service Commission in May 1913 for leave to build the system.

In the record (1)

  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.

    Delmarvia Utilities CompanyHenry P. Moore

    Source · checked 2026-08-06