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Watts On Schools |
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SCHOOLS DATA SYSTEMS ACTIVITIES CALCULATOR LINKS SUPPORT
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Jefferson, Texas - Jefferson Middle School
The graphs below show 15-minute average data collected at the site over the past three days. You can also download the raw data files and make your own graphs of the data from this and other photovoltaic systems from our data page. Please note: Performance data from this system and nearly 100 others on schools, businesses, and houses nationwide are presented at www.SolTrex.com, a new website that allows you to make custom graphs of the performance data from any system!
The Jefferson Middle School system began generating power on September 23, 1999. This system is identical to another Watts On Schools installation in Mineola, Texas, but Mineola is located about 65 miles west of Jefferson. It might be interesting to compare the performance of these two systems. The system is rated at 4 kilowatts. Various dates between 1836 and 1840 are cited as the beginning of Jefferson at a river landing on Big Cypress Bayou. Whatever the date, early settlers were already established when the town was laid out in 1842. Today it is one of Texas' most historic towns - more than 30 structures bear State Historical Medallions. Jefferson early became a major East Texas river port of entry; Big Cypress Bayou was then navigable by steamboats from New Orleans. Discovery of nearby iron ore brought smelters and plow works, while plentiful pine and cypress stimulated the local lumber industry. Here was one of Texas' first breweries, and in 1873 the world's first ammonia refrigerant ice plant. It was the state's first city to utilize artificial gas for street lighting, and shortly after the Civil War, it reached a peak population of 30,000 with as many as 15 steamboats at a time lining the docks, and scores of wagon trains passing through on the way West. Steel rails were also reaching west, but Jefferson, confident in the steamboat, refused Jay Gould's offer for a railroad. Gould angrily predicted death for the city, and laid his tracks elsewhere. He was right as far as "city" goes, because growth in succeeding years, like the railroad, seemed to bypass Jefferson. Today Jefferson boasts a thriving tourism economy, with several bed and breakfast establishments catering to travelers seeking the quiet reflection of a past era. BACK
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