Street lights have lined Albany's sidewalks since before the Revolutionary War, first with oil, followed by natural gas and then, the game changer, electricity.

Albany wasn't the first city in the United States to have electric street lamps, that honor goes to Cleveland, but they were one of the first. In 1881, Albany ran a strip of street lights down North Pearl between Clinton Avenue and State Street and never looked back. 

By the end of that year, they had over 120 installed and by 1886, nearly 500. 

But with electricity still being relatively new, a power plant had to be built for the sole discretion of powering street lights, which brings us here to Trinity Place. In 1881, this was the Albany Electric Illuminating Company, and surprisingly it's still here, albeit run by National Grid now. 

Most of these old homes have never known a view without some kind of power plant here, that's how long it's been, and all because we were one of the first cities to go electric.