By James Pidacks

Have you ever wondered why finding an outlet in our church is sometimes challenging? Well, here is a story to help explain it. One day, I was searching for a way to reset a circuit breaker. I found a well-crafted wooden panel with two doors behind the welcoming table in the Symmes Room. You know, the room with the coffee after service. Inside were the circuit breakers I was looking for, and on the back of the left-hand panel, I found these instructions—no date or name of the author, with way better penmanship than mine.

At one time, a hand-wound “electric machine” was used to create a spark and ignite the gas lighting. Think of it as a predecessor of the button on your gas grill. Today’s electric power was an after-the-fact add-on to the original building. It is a factor in why we see surface-mounted receptacles and fuse boxes. The aging infrastructure limits our ability to make some changes and expansion of our overall power consumption. Below is a photo of gas pipes still in the walls. I am sure the gas was shut off many years ago. Still, I am going to keep my hands off.