Austin's Moonlight Towers

One of Austin's original moonlight towers was installed in 1895 as part of a system of 31 towers. Seventeen remain. Each tower illuminated a circle of 3000 feet using 6 carbon arc lamps, now replaced by mercury vapor lamps. Austin's tower lights are the sole survivor of this once-popular lighting system. An earlier account at this site said that 27 of the 31 towers erected in 1894-95 remained and had been in continuous use, that their carbon arc lights had once illuminated the entire city, and that mercury vapor lamps now provided beacons for many miles on roads and airway from dusk to dawn. Austin was said to be unique in this dramatic method of lighting.

Austin, Texas · United States