This category features posts and links about the history of Reddy Kilowatt.
Reader Edwin Seymour sent us some of photos of Reddy Kilowatt as an Electric Cowboy, as well as a link to a related article about a large Reddy Kilowatt wall mural painted by artist Stefan Kramar for the Amarillo, Texas Xcel office. Thanks, Edwin!
To Alabamians of a certain age, a little man made of lightning bolts with a bulb for a nose was a familiar character who taught them about the safety around electric power. His name was Reddy Kilowatt and he came into existence 90 years ago this month.
Damn! A good man named Mike Lawson has shared not just the existence of a massive, illuminated Reddy sign, but a time-lapse of it being brought back to life. In his words: Hello Bill, Attached are some pictures of the completed sign. Below is a link to a time lapse presentation of us installing the […]
Looks like the Smithsonian Institution has 199 boxes of Reddy Kilowatt history. Everything was donated by Xcel Energy in 2005. Bio / His Notes: The Reddy Kilowatt trademark was created in 1926 by Ashton B. Collins. Reddy Kilowatt, Inc. licensed the trademark promotion and identification purposes by more than 150 investor-owned electric utilities in the […]
Here’s a great photo & memory from Mr. Nathan J. Foulds of Franklin, N.J. My Mom always hand-made theme-based costumes for my brothers and I to march in the annual Halloween parade in Packanack Lake, a close knit lake community that is part of Wayne Township, N.J. It had population then of about 45,000. This […]
Lots of great old images in this Creativepro.com article from earlier this year. Electricity once had a perky little mascot, Reddy Kilowatt, with a light bulb nose, plugs for ears, and a body made of lightning bolts… It’s hard to imagine when people didn’t take electricity for granted, yet in the beginning electricity was restricted […]
Inventing Green: The Lost History of Alternative Energy in America has a good piece on Reddy (and other industry mascots). It gives an overview of how electricity needed to be sold in the early days (everyone used clotheslines before dryers and washed dishes by hand before dishwashers), which might seem unbelievable now, but definitely took […]
Did you know that Reddy Kilowatt was also a high school mascot? Minnesota’s Granite Falls High School had Reddy as their mascot for nearly 60 years until school consolidation led to his retirement. NSP had a power plant in Granite Falls for many years. Big, big thanks to GFHS alum Kari H. for the bit […]