 In 1880 he caused the organizing of an electric lighting plant and company to Grand Rapids, Michigan, the first city lighting by electricity in Michigan.The works were operated chiefly by water power.The first industrial use of hydropower in the United States to generate electricity occurred in 1880, when 16 brush-arc lamps were powered using a water turbine at the Wolverine Chair and Furniture Factory; operated by William H. Powers, his son.