#electricbathing

Many people think of light and electricity when they think of old Coney Island.  Thomas Edison famously electrocuted Topsy the Elephant at Coney Island, in 1903,  during his AC vs DC current rivalry with George Westinghouse.  (A terrible sight, which can be viewed through the Mutoscope at the Coney Island Museum).  The illumination of Coney Island at night around the turn of the century, was a notable sight.  The lights were so bright that they could be seen 4 miles out to sea.  I have had several Brooklyn-born friends tell me their parents used to exclaim "turn off the lights! It looks like Luna Park in here!"  Visitors would come from all over to see the "The Electric Eden."

A somewhat more surprising electric attraction that predated all three major parks at Coney Island was the practice of "Electric Bathing."  The New York Times article (below) claims that Coney Island was first illuminated in 1878 (though by the pre-incandescent arc lamps), the very same year that Joseph Swan created the first incandescent light bulb, and Thomas Edison founded the Edison Electric Company.  Lights were placed high on poles on the beach, in the water and on piers to light the water, and allow visitors to continue their fun into the night.  

New York Times, September 7, 1924

In an article entitled "The Progress of the Electric Light," dated August 8, 1880, the New York Times refers to electric light as the only thing that will appease "those lunatics that persist in bathing after nightfall." This seems particularly dangerous, with modesty customs dictating that bathers wear full-length bathing costumes, the limited light these lamps offered, and the fact that water and electricity pose a serious electrocution hazard. 

Scribner's Monthly, July 1880