"Uncle Jake Saylor was in the other day to tell us the story of Sherwood's first street lighting system. What reminded him of it was a Christmas card from a relative, which carried the picture of an old-fashioned street light - exactly like the ones here 60 - 65 years ago.
Those lights, Uncle Jake says, sat on steel poles on both sides of what is still Harrison street (in the business district), and they burned kerosene. A chap lit them each evening and turned them off each morning, a job which Mr. Saylor held for about a month.
Later, the town had its own electric light plant, but some years after its inception, it was sold to a private company, and finally the Ohio Power Co. took the village under its spacious wing.
Municipal light plants were never too successful in small towns in this section, although there have been some exceptions, notably Deshler, over in Henry County. But a good many of them gave up the ghost in the years immediately before and after the first World War, and since then, the big power companies have held sway.
And by the way of closing 1949 with a compliment, we would say that Ohio Power takes mightly good care of Sherwood."
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