The Cambridgeport Lamp Works was opened in 1885 by the German immigrant Frederick Schaefer, who founded the Schaefer Electric Manufacturing Company with $ 150,000 of capital to produce incandescent lamps and dynamos. Schaefer lamps differed from competitors in that their filaments were carbonised from natural silk, rather than plant-based fibres. In 1886 it was reported that the factory measured 40 x 150 feet and was located on the corner of Osborn and Main Streets. By 1888 the Cambridgeport factory had ceased making dynamos, and was expanded to focus exclusively on incandescent lamp production. In 1891 the Schaefer Electric Company was bought out by the Germania Electric Company of Boston, and the Cambridgeport factory was closed down and relocated to the nearby town of Marlboro in Massachusetts. It operated there for a few years before being taken over again by the Bryan Marsh Electric Company, which itself was ultimately absorbed by the National Electric Lamp Company and became a part of General Electric.
Address
Corner of Osborn Street & Main Street, Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
