It was just a little more than 10 years ago when the last electricity was generated at the Jennison electrical power generating plant in Bainbridge. The 1945 plant along state Route 7 stopped generating Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2000, and then closed Saturday, Nov. 4, 2000.

"There might be some tears and jokes," said Joe Nowhitney, a boiler operator, about the final crew and upcoming closure.

The mood was markedly different Thursday, Dec. 13, 1945. Nearly 250 guests of the New York State Electric & Gas Corp. gathered in the still-clean track hopperhouse of the plant, the coal unloading area next to the D&H Railroad tracks. Here, a buffet luncheon was served and a program followed.

By the 1990s, things were looking grim at the Jennison station. "NYSEG: Bainbridge plant survival at stake" was a headline in The Daily Star on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 1993. It wasn't just coal being used to generate electricity at the plant. That year, the burning of soil contaminated with coal tar became "necessary for the survival" of the plant.

Only two years earlier the state Department of Environmental Conservation had given permission for NYSEG to burn tires at the Bainbridge facility. Tires were removed from area landfills, chipped and sent to the station to be burned for energy.

Also in 1993, it was proposed that the plant burn polyethylene plastic extracted from disposable diapers in its fuel mixture. In 1994, permission was given to burn marijuana and other illicit drugs seized by police. Smokestack emissions from all of these fuel sources often drew concerns from Bainbridge area residents.

The Virginia-based AES Corporation bought the plant from NYSEG in 1999, and by 2000 AES had cited the age of the facility and the cost of the plant had become too great. The plant was closed and placed on what was termed "long-term cold-standby."