Moonlight Tower

This is the Moonlight Tower on South First.

Moonlight Tower

A few of our historic moonlight towers survive. This one is the at Guadalupe and Ninth.

Street Lamp

It's the first of the month. And it's theme day at City Daily Photo. The theme is 'street lamps.' We've shown you Austin's historic moonlight towers before, but we couldn't let this theme day go by without going back to it. These towers were erected in 1895. Apparently many cities had them but only Austin preserved them. Or at least some of them. Seventeen are in use today. This one is at Monroe and South First. Here is a map showing locations of ones that exist today as well as those that are gone. Here's a FAQ from the Austin history center. And here is what we posted on the subject before and a picture of some grackles taking over one.

Click here and you will see a lot of street lamps from around the world.

The Birds!

Walking in East Austin one day we saw grackles doing an Occupy on a Moonlight Tower. So many! They even covered most every inch of the guy wires.

Light from the Past

This is a moonlight tower. As you drive around Austin you will occasionally notice one of these gigantic (165 feet high) street lighting fixtures. Originally erected in 1895, some remain in use today. This one is at 9th and Guadalupe. They were refurbished for their hundredth anniversary and until the 20's they had carbon arc lamps light nightly by a workman using a built-in elevator. They use mercury vapor today. A replica of one is used to make a giant lighted 'Christmas tree' in Zilker park each year. Most sources I found say there are seventeen in use today, but I think this counts one that was at 4th and Nueces that was removed (temporarily? I had heard it would be re-erected somewhere at some point) to build the building in which I sit. You can see that tower in the distance on the far left here. It's hard to believe these structures are over a hundred years old. But it's hard to believe the Eiffel tower went up in 1889, too! You wonder if the Eiffel Tower and its Expo didn't influence cities around the U.S. to buy these. (Apparently, many cities had them in that era but only Austin has preserved them.)