Austin Cornelius Dunham

Austin Cornelius Dunham (June 10, 1833 – March 17, 1918) was an American businessman and philanthropist. His notoriety is as a pioneer in electrical application developments. He was president of the Hartford Electric Light Company for over three decades.

Dunham was born in Coventry, Connecticut, on June 10, 1833. He was the son of Austin and Martha (Root) Dunham. The family moved to Hartford, Connecticut in 1835. Dunham's father was a merchant and businessman in Hartford. His father was in the cotton manufacturing business as well as the banking and insurance business – which enterprises Dunham took over later after his father's death. Dunham's maternal grandfather was Judge Jesse Root.

Dunham attended primary school in Hartford, and North Coventry. He went to high school in Ellington, Connecticut and graduated from there. In 1850 he entered Yale University at the age of seventeen. He graduated in 1854. His first job after that was as a teacher in Elmira, New York, for a year. He returned to Hartford after this.

Dunham was one of the founders of the Willimantic Linen Company. He was also a founder of the Austin Organ Company and the Automatic Refrigerating Company. Dunham was a director of the Etna Fire Insurance Company, the Travelers Life Insurance Company, and the National Exchange Bank. Dunham was a member of the firms of Austin Dunham & Company and E N Kellogg & Company and a senior partner in the firm of Austin Dunham's Sons, manufacturers of worsted yarns and hosiery. Dunham was later president of the Dunham Hosiery Company and the Rock Manufacturing Company and was involved with many other businesses.

Dunham bought the Hartford Electric Light Company as a bankrupt concern and developed a large business from it. He was president of the Hartford Electric Light Company (HELCO) in Hartford, Connecticut for over thirty years. Dunham was a pioneer in electrical application developments because of his company. Under his direction HELCO was the first public utility in the United States to transmit a three-phase electric current for a distance of several miles. He was the first to successfully connect commercial electric alternators in parallel, the first to use a storage battery in connection with a hydroelectric power plant to regulate power and the first to use aluminum commercially in a transmission conductor.

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