Abstract
There was no electricity in most of the cities of Anatolia during the period that the Republic was proclaimed.
The common people generally used candles and oil-lamps as lighting tools. On the other hand,
wealthy families lit their houses with lanterns and pressure lamps. People provided the gas that they
would fire from the gashouse. It is seen that the pocket lamps were also started to be used as from 1925.
Lighting the streets at the city centres was maintained with the gas lanterns hung on the lamp posts.
However, not having any or having few gas lanterns especially on the suburbs caused problems. The
people of these places had to walk in the dark at nights. After a period, the municipalities also bought
pressure lamps. At that time, radium lamps became a part of the life. Long posts were set up for these
lambs. Moreover, lighting of the state offices, shops, and houses was enabled with candles, gas lamps,
lanterns, or pressure lamps hung on iron hooks.
A serious movement was started to bring electricity to Afyonkarahisar during 1927. Governor Edhem
Bey got a French engineer brought from İstanbul. He had some work done around Gecek and Kışlacık.
Meanwhile, he also got the electrical installations analysed in Eskişehir and İzmit. Finally, he decided to
get an electrical installation working with diesel fuel founded rather than an electric power plant. For this
purpose, an agreement was signed with the Hungarian Ganz Company. The establishment of Electric
Power Plant Building was completed during 1928. The city was started to be lightened with electricity
in 1929. The electric power plant was founded on behalf of the Afyon special provincial administration.
The diesel fuel spent for the electricity produced here was met from the budget of the local government.
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