AustinPostcard.com

Moonlight Towers - 1895

In the Austin of the 1890's many areas were underdeveloped, hilly, and unpaved. This presented a problem when it came to lighting the streets. In place of normal street lights the City of Austin opted for 31 towers to provide artificial light to the rapidly growing city. Such light towers were already a common form of lighting in many U.S. cities in the late 19th century. The towers, erected in 1894-1895 by the Fort Wayne Electric Company of Indiana, were approximately 165 feet tall, weighed about 5,000 pounds and used a series of guy wires to keep them vertical. Over the years many of the original 31 towers were lost to construction, errant vehicles and other unfortunate circumstances. Today just 17 of the towers remain standing in Austin. These 17 towers are the last surviving examples of the once popular tower lighting system commonly used throughout the country. They are now designated as official state archeological landmarks and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

When the first moonlight towers were constructed residents feared that the lights would cause havoc with the forces of nature. They feared that the artificial light would cause their crops to grow 24 hours a day and that egg-laying hens would be driven to lay eggs 24 hours a day. Other than a few confused roosters who reportedly "never knew when to stop crowing" the lights produced no negative side effects. However, the towers were by no means trouble-free. Only weeks after the the towers began operating a workman, Gilbert Searight, fell to his death from the top of the tower at 9th and Guadalupe. At least one tower collapsed soon after it was erected. Despite these troubles and the towers themselves sometimes being referred to as "ugly". The glowing light they produced, commonly called "artificial moonlight" was reportedly quite beautiful.

The "moonlight" was originally provided by a then relatively new device called a carbon arc lamp. These original carbon arc lamps illuminated a circle approximately 3,000 feet in diameter with a blue-white light. The light was intended to be bright enough that you could read an ordinary pocket watch on midnight of even the darkest of nights. The city electric department employed one person whose sole responsibility was to maintain the carbon arc lamps and light the towers each day. In 1923, the city replaced the carbon arc lamps with incandescent bulbs and switches were installed at the base of each tower. During World War II, the need to quickly black out the city dictated that the switches be replaced with one central switch. The towers now use 6,400-watt mercury vapor bulbs and the illumination is automated.

In 1990-91 the city refurbished the tower located at South First and Monroe. The construction of the new Austin Convention Center forced the relocation of one tower to First (Cesar-Chavez) and Trinity. An errant automobile damaged the tower at 22nd and Nueces forcing the dismantling of the tower. These two towers were refurbished before being put back up. In 1993 the city began a two-year long project to restore the remaining 14 towers at a cost of $1.3 million.

Locations of the remaining 17 towers....

1.) East Side Drive and Leland
2.) South First and Monroe
3.) 4th and Nueces *removed due to construction
4.) 9th and Guadalupe
5.) 12th and Blanco
6.) 12th and Rio Grande
7.) 15th and San Antonio
8.) 22nd and Nueces
9.) 41st and Speedway
10.) Zilker Park (used for Zilker Park Christmas Tree)*
11.) Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Chicon Street
12.) 13th and Coleto
13.) Leona Street and Pennslyvannia Ave
14.) 11th and Trinity
15.) 11th and Lydia
16.) First (Cesar-Chavez) and Trinity *removed due to construction
17.) Canterbury and Lynn

*This tower was removed from Emma Long Metropolitan Park and replaced the replica tower used for the Zilker Park Christmas Tree.