c. 1970

GE Logo

General Electric in Lights

Inventor James A. Jenney successfully demonstrated Fort Wayne's first arc light in a warehouse in September 1881. Convinced of the value of his invention, five local investors founded the Jenney Electric Light Company in October and began producing arc lights and electric generators. They moved to the Broadway plant location in 1886 and became the Fort Wayne Electric Light & Power Company when purchased by the Thomson-Houston Company of Lynn, Massachusetts in 1888.

When Thomson-Houston merged with Edison General Electric in 1892, Fort Wayne Electric became a subsidiary of the new General Electric Corporation. Thus, Jenney Electric became one of the first locally-founded industries to be absorbed by a national corporation. General Electric, at one time pro-viding thousands of jobs for residents, moved the last of their operation elsewhere in 2015 leaving the fate of the massive plant complex unknown. The giant lighted monogram sign that sat atop Building 4 was a fixture of the Fort Wayne skyline since 1928, going dark only during World War II before its most recent absence from the night sky when GE moved their operations.

Made by a local GE apprentice, this straight pin and silver wire display piece was used for office decoration in the "Specialty Transformers" office on Broadway.