Finding aid for the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association Records


Title:
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association Records
Repository:
Western Reserve Historical Society
Phone: 216-721-5722
http://www.wrhs.org
Creator:
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association
Dates:
1929-1954
Quantity:
5.70 linear feet (14 containers)
Abstract:
The Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1937, by Paul W. Walter, to rekindle interest in the city's deteriorating public electric plant, and to prevent the formation of a monopoly by the area's privately owned company. The collection consists of correspondence, membership lists, dues records, clippings, publications, and reports, relating to the activities and administration of the Association.
Identification:
MS 3298
Location:
closed stacks
Language:
The records are in English

History of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association

The Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, in January of 1937 by Paul W. Walter. The association was created to rekindle interest in the city's deteriorating public power facilities and to prevent the usurpation of utility supply and rate-making by the area's privately owned company.

The problem of public versus private ownership of utilities has been a long-standing political issue in Cleveland, Ohio. The matter was first brought into consideration by Mayor Tom Johnson in 1903 when he proposed, and the city council passed, a bond issue to finance a municipal electric plant. Because of subsequent council action, and a court injunction, the project never materialized.

Only after the city acquired the light plants of the South Brooklyn and Collinwood upon the annexation of these villages in 1905 and 1910 was the move for a large municipal facility renewed. With council approval of a bond issue in 1910, construction of a Cleveland light plant began. When completed in 1914, it was the largest municipally-owned plant of its kind in the United States.

By the mid-1930s, public apathy and governmental neglect had seriously damaged the plant's ability to compete with privately owned utilities and it seemed that the operation would be taken over by the rival, private company. Mr. Walter, a lawyer, and campaign manager for Mary Harold H. Burton, was apprised of this situation by the employees of the plant.

Walter's response was the creation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association. The association was composed of representatives of organized labor, civic organizations, employees of the light plant, and the public at large.

Since its inception, the association has sought to keep the issue of municipal ownership of utilities before the public and to keep the population of Cleveland informed of the condition and needs of its light plant. Though the association still exists today, it has been dormant since Paul Walters resigned from its directorship in 1952.

Scope and Content

The Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association Records, 1929-1954 and undated, consist of correspondence, membership lists, dues records, minutes, clippings, publications, and reports, relating to the activities and administration of the Association.

The collection provides extensive documentation concerning the municipal ownership of utilities and the conflict such ownership engendered with privately-run utilities. In Cleveland, in particular, the collection relates to the privately-owned Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and the effects the Municipal Light Plant had on its operations, especially in the area of rate-making. Similarly, the collection documents the lobbying efforts of such state and national bodies as the Public Ownership League and the American Power Association.

Since the light plant was operated by the city government, the records in this collection relate heavily to the political situation in Cleveland from 1936-1953, and in particular to the efforts of various political factions to either improve its operation or dispose of the plant entirely.

Statement of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series. Both series have been retained in original order. The documents are arranged by subject and then chronologically. However, this filing system terminated in 1943, and materials produced after that date have been placed in a similar sequence. An alphabetical listing of all subject areas represented in each series is available at the Reference Desk of the WRHS Research Library.
Series I: Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association
Series II: Ohio Municipal Utilities Association

Restrictions on Access

None.

Related Material: Related Material

The researcher should also consult MS 3302 Paul W. Walters Papers and PG 67 Paul W. Walters Photographs.


Separated Material: Separated Material

All photographs have been removed to PG 425 Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Construction Photographs.


Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Cleveland (Ohio) -- Politics and government.
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association.
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant.
Electric utilities -- Rates -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Government competition -- Ohio -- Cleveland.
Public relations -- Ohio -- Cleveland -- Public utilities.
Public utilities -- Ohio -- Cleveland.

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3298 Cleveland Municipal Light Plan Association Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gift of Paul W. Walter in 1967.

Processing Information

Processed by Virginia Krumholz in 1975.


Other Finding Aid

A list of the original members of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association is available at the Reference Desk of the WRHS Research Library.


Detailed Description of The Collection



Series I: Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, 1929-1954; undated

Box 1 / Folder 1
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, constitutions, resolutions, press announcements, amendment providing for the removal of the director, and an index to the filing system, 1937-1943




Box 1 / Folder 2
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, board of directors agendas, announcements, reports, correspondence, minutes, memoranda, attendance records, and treasurer's reports, 1936-1948




Box 1 / Folder 3
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, active membership lists, enrollment information, memoranda, correspondence,and dues records, 1937-1940




Box 1 / Folder 4
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, active membership correspondence and lists, 1941-1946




Box 1 / Folder 5
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, associate membership lists, dues records, and newspaper clippings, 1937-1946




Box 1 / Folder 6
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, supporting membership lists of petition circulators and sample petition, 1937-1939




Box 1 / Folder 7
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, membership committee lists, correspondence, and bulletins, 1937-1939




Box 2 / Folder 1
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, information on meeting places, including memoranda, correspondence, and concession agreements, 1937-1945




Box 2 / Folder 2
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, information on the Finance Committee and budgets, including correspondence and publicity relating to fund-raising events, 1937-1947




Box 2 / Folder 3
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, treasurer's reports, correspondence, and income tax exemption forms, 1937-1952




Box 2 / Folder 4
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, "Bulletin" and related material, including newsletters, correspondence, drafts, and announcements, 1937-1953




Box 2 / Folder 5
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, information relating to the Public Ownership League, including correspondence and printed material, 1932




Box 2 / Folder 6
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, Annual Reports, including sample ballots, Cleveland Division of Light and Power balance sheets, correspondence, and newspaper clippings, 1937-1948




Box 2 / Folder 7
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, information related to the financial status of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant, including correspondence, memoranda relating to street lighting bills owned by the City of Cleveland to the Municipal Light Plant and the Works Project Administration (WPA) Utilities Project, 1936-1945




Box 2 / Folder 8
Formation of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, information relating to city plant debt, including correspondence, newspaper clippings of the Utilities Department "free water" list, and memoranda relating to claims of the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association against the transfer of Light Plant monies into the city's general operating fund, 1937-1944




Box 2 / Folder 9
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Expansion Bond Issue Campaign, correspondence and memoranda concerning a 3 million dollar mortgage bod issue, 1937-1938




Box 3 / Folder 1
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Expansion Bond Issue Campaign, correspondence and memoranda concerning efforts to pass a 3 million dollar mortgage bond issue, 1939-1941




Box 3 / Folder 2
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Expansion Bond Issue Campaign, texts of radio speeches, press releases, endorsements, opposition letters and publicity, speaker's bulletins, direct mail, and a sample ballot, 1938




Box 3 / Folder 3-4
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Expansion Bond Issue Campaign, newspaper clippings, 1938




Box 3 / Folder 5
Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Expansion Bond Issue Campaign, records of negotiations with the city of Lakewood,Ohio, regarding its municipal power plant, 1937




Box 4 / Folder 1
Efforts to place the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant under the control of an appointed commission, correspondence, memoranda, and newspaper clippings, 1942-1949




Box 4 / Folder 2
Efforts to place the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant under the control of an appointed commission, hearings and ordinances, 1937-1942




Box 4 / Folder 3
Efforts to place the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant under the control of an appointed commission, compendium of background information inicluding ordinances, charter excerpts, "Bulletins" and "City Records," and the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association proposal, 1942




Box 4 / Folder 4-7
Efforts to place the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant under the control of an appointed commission, Cleveland City Council joint committee hearings, 1942




Box 5 / Folder 1
Efforts to place the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant under the control of an appointed commission, newspaper clippings, 1937-1942




Box 5 / Folder 2
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information relating to the Commissioner of Light, including memoranda, newspaper clippings, and ordinances relating to the Light Division of the Department of Public Utilities, 1939-1941




Box 5 / Folder 3
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information relating to the Department of Motor Vehicle Maintenance, including correspondence, petitions, ordinances, and financial analyses pertaining to the repair of motor vehicles, 1936-1944




Box 5 / Folder 4-5
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information on Cleveland Municipal Light Plant rates, including correspondence, memoranda, and newspaper clippings, 1937-1948




Box 5 / Folder 6
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information relating to Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company rates, including memoranda, correspondence, and newspaper clippings, 1937-1946




Box 5 / Folder 7
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information on comparative electric rates, including Ohio, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and the Pacific Northwest, 1935-1943




Box 5 / Folder 8
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information on the Social Security program for Cleveland Municipal Light Plant employees, 1937-1942




Box 5 / Folder 9
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, information on council candidates for the City of Cleveland, including correspondence, lists, and newspaper clippings, 1937-1939




Box 5 / Folder 10
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, general publicity, including newspaper clippings, typed drafts, and inquiries, 1937-1940




Box 5 / Folder 11
Justification and comparison of municipal operation of the light plant, vouchers, bank statements, miscellaneous bills and receipts, and invoices, 1936-1954




Box 6 / Folder 1
Miscellaneous records, correspondence including American Power Association, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Cleveland Meter Bureau, and the Commissioner of Light and Power, 1939-1954




Box 6 / Folder 2
Miscellaneous records, information relating to the general results of the Municipal Light Plant's operation, including a report on comparative rates, operating expenses, and revenues of various municipally-owned lighting plants, 1937-1954




Box 6 / Folder 3
Miscellaneous records, legislative correspondence, hearings, and legal opinions from and about the Ohio Legislature and other state governmental agencies, 1939-1945




Box 6 / Folder 4
Miscellaneous records, legislative newspaper clippings, 1939-1943




Box 6 / Folder 5
Miscellaneous records, information relating to light plant bonds, including legislation and ordinances, 1937-1947




Box 6 / Folder 6
Miscellaneous records, information relating to the advisory board to the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association, including correspondence, lists of members, and minutes, 1938-1951




Box 6 / Folder 7
Miscellaneous records, information relating to the Division of Water and Heat, including correspondence, newspaper clippings, and a bond prospectus, 1938-1948




Box 6 / Folder 8
Miscellaneous records, correspondence, lists, and programs relating to the planning of a banquet honoring retiring members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 39, 1939




Box 6 / Folder 9
Miscellaneous records, information relating to the Municipal Light Plant expansion plans, including minutes, notes, correspondence, and reports primarily relating to post-World War II planning for a 68 million dollar capital expansion, 1940-1952




Box 6 / Folder 10
Miscellaneous records, estimates relating to Municipal Light Plant construction, 1939




Box 6 / Folder 11
Miscellaneous records, information relating to the Municipal Light Plant opening program, including correspondence and newspaper clippings, 1939-1941




Box 7 / Folder 1
Miscellaneous records, information relating to the Fifth Anniversary Banquet, including correspondence, bills, programs, and newspaper clippings, 1941




Box 7 / Folder 2
Records concerning the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association's proposal to acquire the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, correspondence and reports, 1941-1943




Box 7 / Folder 3
Records concerning the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association's proposal to acquire the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, correspondence and reports, 1943-1948




Box 7 / Folder 4
Records concerning the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association's proposal to acquire the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, newspaper clippings, 1943-1948




Box 7 / Folder 5
Records concerning the Cleveland Municipal Light Plant Association's proposal to acquire the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, printed material, 1942




Box 8 / Folder 1
Municipal Light Plant evaluation, information relating to the Federal Power Commission, including notifications and correspondence, 1937-1948




Box 8 / Folder 2
Municipal Light Plant evaluation, inquiries and correspondence, 1944-1945




Box 8 / Folder 3
Municipal Light Plant evaluation, Edward J. Kenealy evaluation, 1945-1946




Box 8 / Folder 4
Post-World War II expansion, correspondence, memoranda, and reports, 1945-1947




Box 8 / Folder 5
Post-World War II expansion, correspondence and reports, 1948-1953




Box 8 / Folder 6
Post-World War II expansion, newspaper clippings, 1947-1953




Box 8 / Folder 7
Opposition to the three percent transfer of funds from utilities to general fund and charter amendment allowing the same, correspondence and reports, 1945-1947




Box 9 / Folder 1
Tenth Anniversary Celebration, including correspondence, programs, lists, and bills, 1946-1947




Box 9 / Folder 2
Cleveland Utilities Director's salary, including correspondence and reports, 1947




Box 9 / Folder 3
Objection to the change in the form of control of Cleveland's Transit Company, including correspondence and reports, 1947-1948




Box 10 / Folder 1
Administrative records, including constitution, bylaws, treasurer's reports, and agendas of the association, 1937-1947




Box 10 / Folder 2
Administrative records, including treasurer's reports and agendas of the association, 1947-1948




Box 11 / Folder 1
Financial records, cancelled checks, 1938




Box 11 / Folder 2-6
Financial records, membership receipts, 1942-1946




Box 12 / Folder 1
Report: "Improvement in operation and finance of the Department of Public Utilities, Division of Water and Heat, City of Cleveland", 1929




Box 12 / Folder 2
City of Cleveland Utilities Committee Hearings, minutes, 1939




Box 12 / Folder 3
Motor Vehicle Maintenance Survey, undated




Box 12 / Folder 4
Bid advertising, 1936




Box 12 / Folder 5
Report: Electric Utility rates for the City of Cleveland, 1939




Box 12 / Folder 6
Report: "Results of Municipal Electric Systems", 1941




Box 12 / Folder 6
Report: "Results of Municipal Light Plants, 1938-1939




Box 12 / Folder 7
Federal Power Commission, "Statistics of Publicly Owned Electric Utilities", 1947




Box 12 / Folder 8
Ruling: City of Cleveland vs. Hope Natural Gas Company, 1942




Box 12 / Folder 9
Miscellaneous pamphlets of the Municipal Light Plant, dates vary





Series II: Ohio Municipal Utilities Association, 1941-1954; undated

Box 13 / Folder 1
Organizational efforts, correspondence and reports, 1949




Box 13 / Folder 2
Constitution of the Ohio Municipal Utilities Association, 1946-1949




Box 13 / Folder 3
Board of directors, correspondence and minutes, 1946-1949




Box 13 / Folder 4
Meetings, including correspondence, agendas, and financial reports, 1947-1949




Box 13 / Folder 5
Legislation and litigation, including correspondence, bulletins, and reprints, 1946-1949




Box 13 / Folder 6
Financial records, including bank statements, expenditures, correspondence, and financial statements, 1946-1951




Box 13 / Folder 7
Taxation of municipally owned properties, including correspondence and legal rulings, 1947-1953




Box 13 / Folder 8
Miscellaneous correspondence and memoranda, 1949-1953




Box 14 / Folder 1
Newsletters, 1947-1953




Box 14 / Folder 2
Newsletters of other organizations, 1947-1948




Box 14 / Folder 3
Newsletters of the American Power Association, 1947-1954




Box 14 / Folder 4
Field representative Garland Ashcraft, correspondence and reports, 1947-1949




Box 14 / Folder 5
Berea, Ohio, light plant and taxpayer's suit, including correspondence, reports, and decisions, 1941-1951




Box 14 / Folder 6
Surveys of municipal utilities in Ohio, 1946-1949




Box 14 / Folder 7
Mailing stickers, undated




Box 14 / Folder 8
Newspaper clippings, 1946-1947