Printable View
I recall a great discussion thread on Detroityes about Detroit's historic street lamp styles. Today the New York Times has a nice rview of NYC's street lamps over the years. Readers may want to compare.
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/201...ml?ref=opinion
I am always wanting to lobby for matching streetlights on Junction, which has old cast iron lamps on one side and aluminum masts on the other - bad fung shui for the neighborhood, if you ask me.
First flourescent streetlights in the country were on Wyoming in Detroit, circa 1950.
http://www.detroitkidshow.com/flourwy.jpg
Those clashing streetlamp styles certainly seem to be in poor taste. If you started an online petition, I'd sign it.Quote:
Originally Posted by SWMAP
Detroit still have the cedar post bishop lights left in some ghettohoods. The new revival ones are all over the Woodward Ave. The 8 Mile and Woodward Ave. Bridge, Michigan Ave. Gratiot Ave. Broadway St. Cass Ave from I-94 to Baltimore St. and other small ghettohoods including Comerica Park and Washington Ave.
Mexican Village and Mexican Town have the revival Type 1BC Bishop crookesque. Long ago there are some Type 1BC Bishop crookesques at Pontchartrian Street in Detroit's Palmer Park area and its neighborhoods. Some in Highland Park areas, W. Warren Ave. from Grand River Ave. to border of Dearborn. Used to be in Michigan Ave. from Livernois Ave to border of Dearborn, Some left on 21st Street and few left of Kechaval St. through Indian Village.
Since the 311 call center has been disbanded with the budget cuts....anyone know what number to call to report streetlights not working or poles knocked over lying on the ground? Thanks.
From the PLD page - don't call 311:
How do I report burned out or broken street lights?
Call 311 or [[313) 224-INFO [[4636)
9449 Grinnell Ave.
Detroit, MI 48213
Phone: [[313) 267-7202
Fax: [[313) 267-5118
Here's a link to the old thread with lots of photos and history:
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1237944236
Traffic Signal, great detail shot of an old veteran Bishop about 100 years old now. Amazing that these things live on in our city!
I had no idea the first fluorescent street lights in the nation were on Wyoming in Detroit in 1950. It's an interesting fad that caught on briefly in force, and then, for some reason, just as quickly seemed to lose favor. Not that I think it was a bad thing it lost popularity, as the lights were garish and ungainly looking during the day and emitted a very cold dead light at night. Even modern sodium vapor bulbs are more friendly.
I concur with the statement that it doesn't look so good, especially on long streets, to have mismatched streetlight styles. Of course the most important point should be that the lights should work whether they are mismatched or not! But I have driven down Junction many many times and often thought about how cool it would look to have the old bishop lights [[and pineapple styles on the major streetcorners) re-wired, and have the newer lights which have replaced the old taken down and replaced with the replica bishops which can be found on Michigan Avenue, Woodward north of the Fisher, and elsewhere. I heard a rumor that Holy Redeemer is considering giving the two old pine bishops on their sidewalk facing Junction a new coat of paint and a general cleanup, so that might help a little....and it would be lovely if DPL decided to replace the pole which got hit in front of the parish house at the corner of Vernor and Junction. That probably one of the busiest corners in the southwest part of the city...with lots of pedestrians....it would be nice if it was lit at night!
The streetlight designs in the city are a never ending source of interest to me, as clearly evidenced from my posts and photos on the old forums.
Attachment 6791
Attachment 6792
Attachment 6793
I seem to remember a interview with the head of lighting repaire, who said that the problem wasn't that they didn't have enough crews to repair the lights, but rather they didn't have enough crews to go around and test or check all the lights. Is there any truth behind that statement? What happens when you report a light? Also, how do you identify a light pole when calling?Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroit Signal
The address where the pole is located may work.
Is that patinaed copper I'm seeing?Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroit Signal
As far as I'm concerned all streetlights should be replaced with LED/Solar powered lights and get rid of all of the wiring that will eventually break down or get stolen anyways. Getting them off the grid and more reliable will go a long way to solving budget and reliability issues.
Nope, just rust.:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Retroit
I should have specified the part I was referring to.
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/images/attach/jpg.gif
The pole is obviously iron.
Maybe I should have looked at the obvious before I answered, LOL!
Inetersting......it may be copper because I believe that part is merely a sleeve extension at the top of the light fixture. Unfortunately, because of the age and no color photogrphy available, we'll have to wait until one falls down I guess:)
I wish you wouldn't give people ideas.
This is what I have done with a retired Bishop street light with a GE luminous arc lamp and powering it with a GE, 2 1/2 KW, 125V DC generator driven from a restored steam engine from around 1910. All of these components fit in with approx. the same time period which is why I thought this would make an interesting display.
Damn, that's kinda cool!!
Stromberg2
Is there a scrap yard in the area where unusable bits and pieces of the old Bishop's bases and tops go once removed or damaged?
http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/5/177196.jpg
These are all the street light types that we had along Van Dyke up until a few years ago...
The system was so old and out dated that everytime they fixed something, another set ot lights would go out. It was at the point where we had no street lights for an entire year.
The plan was either to spend $50 million installing all new fixtures with new undreground wiring, or for $4 million install wooden poles with lights bolted to that and run everything over head and tie into Edison for the power.
Sadly enough we got the $4 million fix, and then a company came around and removed all the antique light fixtures. Tried to buy a few of them,as I figured that they where scrapping them out and the guy told me that they had them already sold to another city for lots of money.
I was luckey enough to get to keep a Pinaple from the top of one of the light posts, as a few years ago a bus slammed into the pole infront of my office and took out the entire light and went through my building causing $50,000 in repairs.
Picked up this old Bishop light [[see post #18) at an antique shop along US12 about a year ago for $160 and could'nt get my money out fast enough! Knew exactly where it came from because I worked along Fort St. in the 70s & 80s when they were up and down both sides of the street.
Fascinating info, all.
I lived in Indian Village for a month last year, and went for the occasional nighttime stroll while living there. I swear I saw flames inside of a couple of the older fixtures there! By no means were they the majority, but a couple of them appeared to be burning something as their source of light. There's no way they could be gaslights, could they? One of these evenings I'll have to head over there and see if I can re-find them.
Can anyone track down what year the Bishop style lights started going up, and when were the last new ones installed? Looking for the start and stop years. Also how did they get the Bishop name?
Because it looks like a bishop's crook? Just guessing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steamer
ca. 1909 is the oldest photo I've seen of a bishop light in the style we still find today. I'm not sure when they stopped making them, but I know the pineapple finial design debuted in 1916. Not sure if they installed both concurrently for a time around then or not.
Would you consider this a Bishop style?:Quote:
Originally Posted by Steamer
Attachment 7105
From the city lighting department's 1897 annual report.
I'd believe it that they date back to the years before 1900. So the 1897 image [[yes, that counts as a Bishop) would be accurate. The earlier ones have the cast iron bases and hollowed out wooden standards. The later ones have steel standards. Obviously, the early arc lighting fixtures and globes have been replaced with more modern incandescent fixtures and larger mainly non-pointed globes.
Read a piece of curious trivia in an unrelated story the other day. The part that goes on top of a streetlight is called a "pothead." :D
On Saturday 8/20 I took a cruise around Detroit and made the following notes in relation to streetlights:
The city has replaced all the streetlight heads on E. Larned from 375 eastward. The old lamp posts remain with their pointed finials and graceful curved iron supports, but they all have modern light assemblies on them now. Hopefully, they will actually light up every single night!
It was really depressing to drive down Woodward after dark between Jefferson and Campus Martius and see that most of the streetlights along Woodward were dark. The festival in Hart Plaza plus all the pedestrian traffic from it being Friday night really must not have appreciated the near-darkness along the sidewalks down there. You'd think they'd get their act together and flip the switch so the busiest part of the city foot-traffic-wise wasn't in the dark.
The new streetlights are up and on in front of the new Michigan Traffic HQ on W. Fort near 6th Street. Now, if they could just turn on a few of those other lights closer to downtown on Fort!
Most of the old Bishops on Junction are holding their own, many of them still lighting at night when they're probably a hundred years old. Great to see these pieces of Detroit history still lighting the way at night and adding some historic character during the day.
A light pole on Woodward north of Six mile had what appeared to be a phone box attached on the side.
A neighborhood in LA wanted to reinstall the original period lighting about 10 years ago. According to the article, "Union Metal Corp. of Canton, Ohio, stunned her [[the architectural historian) with news that the original wood molds used in the casting of the ornate light posts were still in a factory storeroom."
The old bowling-pin Bishop lights dating from the early 1900's have been copied on many streetscape projects around Detroit in the past 5-6 years. The first of these occurred prior to the Superbowl around the Ford Field region. Now, Woodward from 94 south, Broadway, Washingon Blvd, and several stretches of Michigan Avenue have them. They look great and while they are structurally different from the originals, it is a truly authentic Detroit design that looks very much as the old ones do. Problem is, they are somewhat cheaply built [[made in Mexico) and don't age nearly as well as their original counterparts. While a ca. 1915 example might not be able to take the brunt of a collision from a high speed chase just as a new one couldn't [[Michigan Avenue at the Telway), a quick drive down Michigan Avenue will reveal several dozen of the new lights with brackets broken, globes hanging precariously off, base standards broken and missing, etc. And they've only been there a few years. And they're not being repaired, either!
Has anyone else noticed the Bishop lamps with the retrofitted bowl like style lamp? They replaced all the ones on Trumbull in Woodbridge this summer and I'm noticing more and more popping up around the city.
It's a shame it really destroys the beauty of the old Bishop lamps.
Anyone know what's been cooking streetlightwise on Fort Street on the southwest side? From the CSX bridge near Dearborn Ave. to I-75, and then in the blocks across from Southwestern High School? On the lower portion, many poles are now laying on the ground, and many have been removed, some of the really old pineapple ones, and some of the new "cobraheads." On the block from Woodmere east, the old pineapple poles have been stripped of their pineapples, ornamental bracketing and acorn globes, and only the poles remain. It appeared that new wiring and concrete lampstand bases had been laid along Woodmere Cemetery and many other blocks. Across from Southwestern, new streetlight brackets and guy wires have been attached from all the telephone poles on that block. Meanwhile, some of the old bishops on the School side have been taken down. Major lighting project underway? It's CLEAR that the street lighting on this stretch was in desperate need of attention, mostly dark at night and certainly cobbled together for decades. I do think it's sad to see the old lights torn down and stripped of their ornament so unceremoniously, and the old history being lost, I'm glad to finally see some investment to fix the system up. If anyone else is down in that way, please update if possible.
I liked the old fashioned lights. The ones that worked every night. The ones that, if they were out for more than 48 hours after being reported, resulted in disciplinary action against the employees responsible for maintenance.
Ray and tponetom might remember.
The streetlight rehab/rebuild continues along Fort Street between Miller and Waterman. Almost all the old fixtures are down now. Some new bases have been laid, and many poles have been places upon old bases. Only in Detroit would "new" streetlights actually be older poles brought in from someplace else with new lampheads. At least hopefully they'll work now. Across from Southwestern HS, there are also some which are mounted on the telephone poles.