>The reign of Isabella II as an adult (1843–1868) proved to be a period of relative stability and growth for Valencia in which services and the infrastructure, including municipal water supply, paved roads, and gas distribution were substantially improved, and a large-scale construction project was initiated at the port. Gas lighting was introduced in 1840 and soon after a public works project began to pave the streets with cobblestones, a task that took several years because of the lack of council funds. The public water supply network was completed in 1850, and in 1858 the architects Sebastián Monleón Estellés, Antonino Sancho and Timoteo Calvo drafted a general expansion project for the city which included the demolition of its ancient walls (a second version was printed in 1868). Neither proposed project received final approval, but they did serve as a guide, although not necessarily closely followed, for future growth. By 1860 the municipality had 140,416 inhabitants, and beginning in 1866 the ancient city walls were almost entirely demolished to facilitate urban expansion. Electricity was introduced to Valencia in 1882.
During the Cantonal Revolution of 1873, a cantonalist uprising that took place during the First Spanish Republic, the city was consolidated with most of the nearby cities in the Federal Canton of Valencia (proclaimed on July 19 and dissolved on August 7). It did not have the revolutionary fervor of the movement in cities like Alcoy, as it was initiated by the bourgeoisie, but the Madrid government sent General Martinez-Campos to stifle the rebellion by force of arms and subjected Valencia to an intense bombardment. The city surrendered on August 7; Alfonso XII was proclaimed king on 29 December 1874, and arrived in Valencia on 11 January 1875 on his way to Madrid, marking the end of the first republic. Despite the Bourbon restoration, the roughly even balance between conservatives and liberals in the government was sustained in
