Starting in the 1880's increased public demand for electrical and telephone services led to a proliferation of above-ground wires and support poles in Baltimore. This system, although regarded as a safety hazard and visually unattractive from its inception, was not improved until 1890. At this point, the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company constructed a few underground electrical conduits in the downtown section of the city. The success of this effort, coupled with the overburdening of the above-ground system, encouraged the city council to appoint a commission in May 1894 "to study the problems which presented themselves in the execution of an efficient system of subways [electrical conduits]." The efforts of this commission concerned planning, but some conduit construction was begun.

Based upon the recommendations of the commission, the municipal government decided to construct and maintain an extensive network of subsurface electrical and gas conduits. The city successfully petitioned the Maryland House of Delegates in 1896 for permission to issue $1 million in stock to finance the project and a city-wide referendum approved the stock issue in November 1897.

In August of the following year, the city council enacted a series of ordinances relative to conduits creating an Electrical Commission to supervise the placement of all wires in underground conduits and to gather information concerning the type, length, and distribution of wires. On October 1, 1898 Charles S. Phelps, Jr. was appointed Chief Engineer of this commission and work officially began on the conduit system.

After some preliminary planning, the commission commenced a massive conduit construction program. Progress increased each year up to 1913 when a record 1,658,204 feet of conduits were laid. By 1918 much of the work was complete, with about forty-five thousand feet laid that year. During the 1920's and 1930's, Baltimore gained national attention for its conduit program. Most cities allowed private companies to build and maintain their own conduits; Baltimore, Erie, and Quebec City were the only North American cities at that time to own extensive conduits and rent space out to corporate users.

The commission was initially under the bureaucratic administration of the Department of Public Improvements. In 1927 it was reorganized as the Bureau of Mechanical- Electrical services and placed under the Department of Public Works. In 1967 the responsibility for the electrical conduits was transferred to the Bureau of Engineering, another subdivision of the Department of Public Works.

For additional information, see Charles F. Goob, Survey of the Municipal Conduit System. 1922; Clayton W. Pike, Report to the Public Improvement Commission of Baltimore Upon the Municipal Electrical Conduit System. 1925; Report of the Chief Engineer to the Electrical Commission of Baltimore for the Years 1898-1905, 1906; and the subject file of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Maryland Department.