Silverhill Power Company



The Silverhill Power Company


Photo of The Silverhill Power Company dam.
The Silverhill Power Company dam about 1930.
Click to Enlarge.


Silverhill Power Company Stock Certificate





         The history of electricity in Silverhill began in 1921, when three Silverhill men introduced electricity to the town. Clarence N. Anderson, Harold C. Fosberg, and Paul C. Anderson, built a gasoline-driven generator that produced electricity. Clarence and Paul both had experience in automobile engine repair. The generator supplied electricity to several homes and businesses in the center of Silverhill.

         The First Baptist Church of Silverhill and the Mission Covenant Church installed electric lighting in 1924, using an electric line that was run from the Robertsdale electric station. This company, Duel Light and Power Company of Robertsdale and Loxley was acquired on March 1, 1926 by Foley Light and Power Company, which would soon become Riviera Utilities.

         As more people asked to have electricity brought to their homes, plans were drawn to build a dam and a hydor-electric generating plant on Fish River to the west of Silverhill (on the south side of the Fish River bridge of highway 104). In 1925, Harold C. Fosberg, Clarence N. Anderson, and Charles M. Lyrene, began to make plans to build the dam.

         The three men, incorporated their new company under the name of Silverhill Power Company on March 5, 1926. They were authorized to sell $5,000 worth of shares of mortgage bonds. They reported that $3,200 had been paid in. The Great Depression began and the power company could not raise the funds it needed to continue building.

         The Silverhill Power Company granted Riviera Utilities of Foley the franchise for supplying electricity to Silverhill. This transaction took place on August 11, 1931. The Silverhill Power Company dissolved on September 28, 1931.



Silverhill Power Company Newspaper Articles


The Silverhill Power Company article printed March 11, 1926.
Click to read full article.



Printed
Thu. Apr. 1, 1926


Printed
Thu. Jul. 1, 1926


Printed
Thu. Sep. 9, 1926


Printed
Thu. Feb. 24, 1927


Printed
Thu. May 19, 1927


Printed
Thu. Jul. 14, 1927

This ad ran 8 times in the Onlooker Jul. 14 - Sep. 8, 1927
Printed
Thu. Aug. 9, 1928


Printed
Thu. May 1, 1930


Printed
Thu. Dec 18, 1930


Printed
Thu. Aug. 20, 1931


Printed
Thu. Sep. 24, 1931







Silverhill Power Company Deeds and Records

Deed
Mar. 5, 1926


Right of Way Deed
Nov. 19, 1928


Deed
Aug. 12, 1931


Deed
Oct. 1, 1936