More Forgotten Electric Railway Pioneers: In reading about the very early days of railway electrification, we run into the name of a company that carried out a large percentage of those electrification projects, the Thompson-Houston Electric Co. Then, after a few years, the name disappears. Who were those men and what happened to them?

Edwin Houston (1847 – 1914), from Alexandria VA, graduated in 1864 from Central High School in Philadelphia. At that time, Central was much more advanced than what, today, are called “high schools,” and granted Houston first a bachelor’s and then a master’s degree. He went on to teach at the school, first as professor of civil engineering and then as chair of the natural philosophy (i.e. science) department.

Elihu Thomson (1853 – 1937) was born in Manchester, England, coming with his family to the U.S. in 1858. He also attended Central, studying under Houston, and became chair of the chemistry program in 1876. In 1880, he left Central to do research in electricity, receiving several important patents.

In 1882, the two men founded the Thompson-Houston Electrical Co., which moved to Lynn MA and quickly became a leader in developing and installing electrical technology. Also involved in this company was Charles A. Coffin, as business manager. In 1892, under Coffin’s leadership, the company merged with Thomas Edison’s company to became General Electric.

Although still involved with the company, Houston became less active as a member and started his own electrical engineering consulting firm. Thomson continued to be active with the firm as an inventor but, disliking the business aspects, remained in Lynn when headquarters moved to Schenectady, NY. Among his many inventions was the electric wattmeter, showing amount of electricity used, important for billing for electricity use. From 1920 – 1923 he served as President of MIT.