Ever wondered how electricity found its way to Virden? Yeah, me neither. Let’s talk about something more interesting. Take this seemingly boring stick, for example. Don’t you underestimate this stick, as it actually had a lot of purpose back in the days before we had fancy electricity.
Electricity came to Virden when A. C. Foster approached the Council for the Virden Light and Power Co. in 1893. The request for a ten year process to erect poles and furnish electric lights to Virden was granted, but apparently not a popular invention as kerosene lamps were still the popular choice of locals until 1897. Anyway, you didn’t come here to learn about a monotonous ten year process of setting up poles.
Let’s talk sticks. This stick in particular, which is on display at the museum, features a tiny claw on the end of it. Similar to a Moltov cocktail, one would dip a rag in gasoline and light it, sticking it on the end of the claw. This gave the user the leverage they needed to light their fancy Victorian lamps and candles in their homes that were a little too tall for the average arm. These sticks were more commonly used for going around town and lighting streetlamps at sundown.
Now you may be asking yourself why you’d go to the trouble of driving yourself out to the Pioneer Home Museum to look at a stick. Hear us out, there are much more interesting artifacts to discover hidden behind our brick veneer walls. Stay tuned on our newspaper articles to learn more about those artifacts that make you think; “What on Earth is that?”Next week’s “What’s It” item is…
