On your way to or from the National Insulator Show in Houston, Texas, this summer, why not plan a stopover at the Edison Plaza Museum in Beaumont, about 90 miles east of the Bayou City?

On display in the only museum west of the Mississippi dedicated to the genius of Thomas A. Edison is a large insulator collection on loan from A. L. Rash of Lumberton. Dating from 1846 through the 1970's, the collection includes telephone, telegraph and power insulators chosen for their beauty, style, color and age. Some of the insulators are mounted on a service pole erected at the rear of the main exhibit hall on the first floor of the museum. Others are on display around the pole. In the adjoining Gulf States Utilities Company lobby are three other insulator exhibits loaned by Rash.

Mr. Rash, a disabled American veteran who worked as a lineman for Southwestern Bell Telephone Company for forty years, is known for his collection of rare insulators. He has worked with other East Texas museums to help preserve the history of the communications and electric power industries. He calls his extensive collection "The Untouchables."

The retired phone company employee wrote a column, "The Lineman's Viewpoint," for five years and has written or helped to write 10 books. He has also made a number of television appearances, including "The Eyes of Texas," to talk about his fascination with insulators. 

The Edison Plaza Museum, one of only two electric industry museums in the United States, was organized and granted a state charter in 1982. It is a non-profit, educational institution recognized as a sister to the Smithsonian, Charles Edison Fund and the Henry Ford Museum. About 8,000 people visit the museum each year, coming from throughout the United States and from many foreign countries. It is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and there is no admission charge. Tours are available by appointment.

The building that houses Edison Plaza Museum is the 60 year-old Travis Street Substation which, because of its age, has been carefully restored. While artifacts and displays occupy most of the space, one portion of the building still serves as a modern substation, distributing electricity to a small portion of downtown Beaumont. The substation was built in the rnid-1920's to provide electricity, generated by a nearby power plant, to 22 East Texas communities that had been without the benefits of electric service.

The museum is divided into three distinct sections --Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow -- and is designed to show Edison's contributions to light, communications, transportation, entertainment, construction, medicine, crime and punishment, and electric power distribution.

The Yesterday and Today sections of the museum focus on how electricity is generated and the path it follows to light up a city. The Today section includes information on the comparative cost of electricity and the Tomorrow section is being updated to include a laser and hologram, a superconductivity display, a computerized "smart house" model and the latest technology in the solar and coal industries. A new exhibit, "Edison in Print" should be completed in early June. Y'ALL COME!

Edison Plaza Museum