|
Moonlight towers or moontowers are lighting structures designed to illuminate areas of a city at night. The towers were popular in the late 19th century in cities across the United States and Europe; they were most common in the 1880s and 1890s. In some places they were used when standard street-lighting, using smaller, shorter, and more numerous lamps, were impractically expensive. In other places they were used in addition to gas street lighting. The towers were designed to illuminate areas often of several blocks at once. Arc lamps, known for their exceptionally bright and harsh light, were the most common method of illumination. As incandescent electric street lighting became common, the prevalence of towers began to wane. ==Moonlight towers in Austin, Texas== Austin, Texas is the only city in the world known still to have moonlight towers. They are tall with foundations wide. The towers were manufactured in Indiana by Fort Wayne Electric Company and assembled onsite.〔(Texas Historical Commission Atlas )〕 In 1894, the City of Austin purchased 31 used towers from Detroit. A single tower cast light from six carbon arc lamps, illuminating a radius circle brightly enough to read a watch. Some have claimed that Austin put up moonlight towers partially in response to the actions of the Servant Girl Annihilator, but the towers were not erected until 1894 and 1895, ten years after the murders took place.〔()〕 When first erected, the towers were connected to electric generators at the Austin Dam, which was completed in 1893 on the site of present-day Tom Miller Dam. In the 1920s their original carbon-arc lamps, which were exceedingly bright but time-consuming to maintain, were replaced by incandescent lamps, which gave way in turn to mercury vapor lamps in the 1930s. The mercury vapor lamps were controlled by a switch at each tower's base. During World War II, a central switch was installed, allowing citywide blackouts in case of air raids. In 1970 the towers were recognized as Texas State Landmarks, followed by the 17 remaining towers being listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 1976. Only 6 are in their original locations as established by the Board of Public Works and City Council in 1895. In 1986 they were designated as State Archeological Landmarks. In 1993 the city of Austin dismantled the towers and restored every bolt, turnbuckle and guy-wire as part of a $1.3 million project, the completion of which was celebrated in 1995 with a city-wide festival. One of the towers was prominently featured in the film ''Dazed and Confused'' (1993) as the site of a high-school keg party, in which the character played by Matthew McConaughey exclaims, "Party at the moon tower."〔(New York Times: "Austin’s Moon Towers, Beyond ‘Dazed and Confused’" by MARK OPPENHEIMER ) February 13, 2014〕 The City of Austin has ordinances in place to protect the towers from demolition. However, since 2004 the towers at 4th & Nueces and 1st & Trinity have been removed due to new construction. It is unclear whether they will be replaced, or erected elsewhere. A restoration campaign began in 2014 by @AustinEnergy and continues with plans to completely renovate and restore all the existing towers. Photos of the ongoing work are posted on Twitter.〔()〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「moonlight tower」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|