Dover, Ohio
Published May 2010
The City of Dover, Ohio, located in Tuscarawas County, is celebrating the 100 year anniversary of its municipal power plant. Dover Light and Power is one of only five municipally-operated electrical generating plants in the state still serving its community. To commemorate the anniversary, the city created a new logo and will have educational booths at local events throughout the year.
The history of Dover’s light plant dates back to 1898 when voters approved construction of the plant after the Tuscarawas County Electric Light & Power Company wanted to increase the cost of street lights. After several years of legal battles with the power company, the Dover plant finally went into operation on February 15, 1910. Angry voters retaliated against the power company with another bond issue to expand service into residential and commercial lighting. Today Dover Light and Power includes fiber optic cable and serves over 6,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers.
Dover experienced a population boom when the Tuscarawas River, which runs through the city, was incorporated into the Ohio Canal system in 1825. This canal complex linked the Ohio River to the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal. Dover became the only tolling station on the Tuscarawas, and was known as Canal Dover during this booming canal era. Dover was incorporated as a village in 1842, but oddly, the city’s charter was permitted to lapse, and Dover had no official government until 1867 when it was again incorporated. Dover was incorporated as a city in 1901. Founded in 1807, Dover celebrated its Bicentennial during the entire calendar year of 2007 with various functions, celebrations and dedications.
Dover’s first real commerce came from several local flour mills. Dover also became a steel center, with the first blast furnace opening in the mid 1850s and its first steel rolling mill in the mid 1860s. Despite its industrial base, Dover remained heavily influenced by the nearby agricultural communities, particularly the nearby Amish and Mennonite communities.
Dover is a participating project member in the following AMP projects: OMEGA JV2, Hydro Project, Landfill Gas Energy, the Prairie State Energy Campus and AMPGS.