Rensselaer incorporated a municipal steam power plant in 1898, changed it to diesel power in 1925, and remodeled and enlarged it in 1939 under Superintendent Louis C Ramp, Assistant Superintendent J W Moore and Son, consulting engineers Howard S Garns, architect W R Dunkin and Son Inc, contractors, Mayor John R Merritt, Clerk-Treasurer Robert Wright, City Attorney Conrad Kelener, and councilmen Chas R Benjamin, Ross Rowen, Harry Swartzell, Marion Irwin, and Albert Abbott.