DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just passin' it along — straight from the official record. Now, most cities light their streets corner by corner, one lamp at a time, humble and practical. Austin decided to do something else entirely.
Back in 1894 and 1895, the city put up 31 towers — not little lampposts, mind you, but towers — fitted with carbon arc lights so powerful they could illuminate an entire city at once. Whole neighborhoods bathed in that cold electric glow, all from a handful of tall iron sentinels standing watch above the rooftops. Austin is said to be unique in that dramatic method of lighting.
Unique. The marker doesn't hedge much, but it doesn't have to. The towers went up, and they never stopped working.
Continuous use, the marker says, from 1894 and 1895 right on through. The carbon arc lamps eventually gave way to mercury vapor lamps — different technology, same towers, same purpose — casting their beacons for many miles across roads and airway, from dusk to dawn, every single night. Thirty-one towers once stood across this city.
Twenty-seven of them remain. Four are gone. Twenty-seven are still out there, still lit, still doing exactly what they were built to do.
Some things in Texas just refuse to come down.
What the marker says
This is one of 27 that remain out of 31 towers erected 1894-95 and in continuous use since. Their carbon arc lights then illuminated entire city. Now mercury vapor lamps provide beacons for many miles on roads and airway, from dusk to dawn. Austin is said to be unique in the dramatic method of lighting.