Ante Šupuk
Who was Ante Šupuk?
Croatian engineer and inventor (1838–1904)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Ante Šupuk (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Ante Šupuk (21 August 1838 – 11 May 1904) was a Croatian engineer, entrepreneur, and politician from Šibenik, Dalmatia. He gained recognition for his long tenure as mayor of Šibenik and his efforts in building the Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Krka River, one of the first alternating current hydroelectric plants globally. His career connected civic leadership and industry during a time of major modernization in Dalmatia under Austro-Hungarian rule.
Šupuk became mayor of Šibenik in 1872, being the first Croat mayor elected through universal suffrage. He served three terms: 1873–1882, 1886–1892, and 1896–1903, leading the city for almost thirty years. Under his leadership, Šibenik saw significant infrastructure improvements. A rail link was added in 1877, followed by a municipal waterworks in 1879, and then a sewer system and new harbor. A new hospital was completed in 1883. These projects modernized the city's infrastructure and enhanced residents' daily lives.
In 1893, Šupuk partnered with Vjekoslav Meichsner to harness the Krka River's power for electricity. In 1894, they got approval to lay power lines in the city to provide electric street lighting. Work on the Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant began that year and finished after sixteen months. The plant had a two-phase generator producing 0.6 megawatts, transmitted over an 11-kilometer, 3-kilovolt line to the city, where it was converted to 110 volts for use.
On 28 August 1895, electric street lights in Šibenik were switched on for the first time with alternating current from the Jaruga plant. Šibenik was the third city in the world with alternating current street lighting, after Niagara Falls and Frankfurt, and the first in Dalmatia and Croatia. In 1904, the year Šupuk died, his company completed a second facility, Jaruga II, which still operates today.
Šupuk passed away on 11 May 1904 in Šibenik, leaving a transformed city compared to when he first became mayor. He is remembered for his political skill and his pioneering work in electrical infrastructure in the region.
Before Fame
Ante Šupuk was born on August 21, 1838, in Šibenik, a coastal city in Dalmatia that was then part of the Austrian Empire. The specifics of his early education and training are not well documented, but his later work as both an engineer and civic leader suggests he likely received a technical education available to ambitious young men in mid-19th-century Dalmatia. The region was governed from Vienna, and educated Croatians of his generation often balanced their local patriotic identity with the empire's institutions.
By the early 1870s, Šupuk was well-established in Šibenik's civic life, leading to his run for mayor. His election in 1872 was the first held under universal suffrage in the city and marked his rise to public fame. At that time, there was growing Croatian national awareness, industrial growth across Europe, and expanding infrastructure networks changing urban life. Šupuk played a key role in these developments, working on municipal improvements and pursuing commercial ventures in energy and industry.
Key Achievements
- Built the Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant in 1895, one of the world's first alternating current hydroelectric facilities
- Made Šibenik the third city in the world to achieve alternating current-powered public street lighting on 28 August 1895
- Served as mayor of Šibenik for approximately three decades across three terms, overseeing major urban infrastructure projects
- Established Šibenik's railroad connection (1877), municipal waterworks (1879), sewer system, new harbor, and hospital during his tenure
- Founded the enterprise that constructed Jaruga II in 1904, a power plant still operational in the twenty-first century
Did You Know?
- 01.The Jaruga Hydroelectric Power Plant was completed just one day after Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse energized the Niagara Falls power station, making Šibenik among the very first cities in the world lit by hydroelectric alternating current.
- 02.Šupuk served as mayor of Šibenik across three non-consecutive terms spanning nearly thirty years, from 1873 to 1903.
- 03.The 11-kilometer transmission line connecting the Jaruga plant to Šibenik operated at 3,000 volts before being stepped down to 110 volts for use in street lighting.
- 04.Jaruga II, the second power plant built by Šupuk's company in 1904, is still in operation today on the Krka River.
- 05.Šupuk obtained the license to use the Krka River's waters for electricity generation in 1893, two years before the plant was completed, navigating both commercial and regulatory processes under Austro-Hungarian administration.