No, we have never seen any aluminum wire in pre-1960 homes. Although it has been used since the early twentieth century by utility companies for electrical transmission in high-voltage power grids, copper wire has long been the standard for residential wiring. Aluminum was used only briefly for general home wiring, from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, as a copper alternative during a period when copper prices skyrocketed. An example is shown above. But the large number of house fires, caused by connections of single-strand wires working loose at wire terminal connections, ended the the era of single-strand aluminum home wiring.
Although single-strand aluminum wiring is gone, multi-strand aluminum wire is still an approved residential wiring and we see it used regularly for the main service wires from the outside weatherhead to the panel and also at breakers for major appliances. Because it is required to be coated with anti-oxidant paste at the wire connections where the metal is exposed to the
