Power line to Hamilton

November 12^th, 2023 marked a very special occasion for the city of Hamilton. It was the 125^th anniversary of the arrival of hydropower to this great city. This made Hamilton the first major city in Canada to have hydropower. With this wonderful achievement, came a lot of progress for the city. The arrival of hydropower enabled the start of many industries in the city, which of course created many jobs. What followed, was the arrival of many immigrants who were looking for work, which they found in Hamilton, where they settled and began to create a life for themselves.

The big question is, how exactly did hydropower arrive to Hamilton, and who was responsible for this remarkable achievement? The partial answer here, is the great Serbian inventor, Nikola Tesla! A local Hamilton businessman, John Patterson got the idea of transmitting hydropower to Hamilton, from The Decew Falls Power Generating Station, which was about 35 miles away. John Patterson had read about Tesla’s alternating current (AC) system prior to this, and he wondered if his idea was possible. He wrote a letter to Nikola Tesla asking this exact thing, to which Tesla replied of course it was possible. Tesla had said that electricity could be transmitted at even greater distances, and so history was made in the great city of Hamilton.

To commemorate this special occasion, the city of Hamilton along with the Nikola Tesla Educational Corporation put out a call for artists to propose ideas for a public art project commemorating this great achievement in Hamilton. A total of 51 artists answered this call and presented their ideas to a committee of judges. After a long judging process a winning artwork was selected. The winner of this Public Art project was a Serbian artist, Lilly Otasevic, whose winning entry “Empower,” was unveiled on this date (November 12^th). To celebrate such an achievement for both the city as well as Nikola Tesla and the local Serbian community, Nikola Tesla Educational Corporation hosted a party to celebrate all these great achievements.

Nikola Tesla Educational Corporation organized a wine and cheese event to commemorate the unveiling of “Empower.” The event was held at the Cataract Building downtown Hamilton. This was a special location indeed as it was the first building in Hamilton to have hydropower. It was definitely an eventful party, filled with good food, drinks, great entertainment and distinguished guests. Among the noted attendees were MPP Tom Rakocevic, former Hamilton mayor Bob Bratina, NTEC president Vic Djurdjevic, local artist Lilly Otasevic, just to name a few. Wonderful entertainment was provided by a local DJ as well as the Niagara Falls Tamburasi group, who amazed the crowd with their heart-warming performance. Attendees were able to sample a verity of wines from a local winery while enjoying some delicious finger foods, which included cold cuts donated by Punjab foods, chevapi donated by Royal Meats, and many other delicacies. There was also a showroom of Tesla electric vehicles, where attendees were able to ask questions and take pictures. Guests were also able to tour the tunnels through which electricity was originally transmitted in this building. The tunnels went under the building and walking through them was amazing to experience, as guests were literally walking the tunnels of history. The intimate atmosphere of the event allowed for a lot of mingling and conversation among the guests. All in all, it was a wonderful celebration of a tremendous achievement both for the city of Hamilton as well as the Serbian community.