Thomas Edison invented the incandescent lightbulb in 1879. More important, he invented the system that supplied electricity to homes and businesses. Edison opened the first central electricity generating plant in 1882. Like natural gas, electricity was initially used for lighting streets and homes. Beginning in the early 1890s experiments with electric cooking appliances attracted considerable attention. The first electric stove is credited to the Carpenter Electric Heating Manufacturing Company. The organizers of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago constructed an electrified home equipped with an electrified marble slab intended to heat food. On 30 June 1896, William Hadaway was issued the first patent for an electric stove.
