PMLD's History

Our 1959 Fleet

Providing Power to Princeton, MA

At the June Town Meeting in 1911, $450.00 was appropriated to pay for the 1912 operating costs of the kerosene street lights in Princeton and East Princeton. At the same meeting, a committee was authorized to investigate the construction of a Municipal Light Plant.

The Committee recommended that the Town implement such a program, and was successful with a vote of 96 for and 9 against at a Town meeting held on July 13, 1912. This vote was reconfirmed at a Town meeting held on September 14, 1912 by a vote of 88 to 18.

A Board of Commissioners was elected and authorized to borrow $15,000.00 to implement construction of said plant. The budget for kerosene was increased by an additional $700.00 at the same meeting.

Thus, began the Princeton Municipal Light Department. A history prepared by Les Poole in 1975 reports that the first full year of operation was 1914 with a customer base of 56, gross revenues of $895.91 and 130 streetlights. Today, PMLD has approximately 1,500 customers and services 35 square miles with 86 road miles of poles, lines and hardware and a $4,000,000.00 annual budget.

Enjoy a few PMLD photos from the past below. Click on one and watch the slideshow.