I am planning on modelling a city scene and am trying to remember when parking meters came into widespread use. It seems to me that it was the late 50’s or early 60’s but I could be way off. I’m 53 and it could be that maybe I was just starting to pay attention to these things in that time frame. Anyone know for sure??..regards, John
From NEB&W Scenery, Structures & Details by John Nehrich[8D]
“The first parking meters were installed July, 1935 in Oklahoma City. A mere decade latter, there were 71,393 Dual Parking Meters installed around the country.”
I found a couple photos in a book about the Key System showing parking meters in Oakland Ca. The photo captions do not give dates, but the from the autos I would guess that they are post ww2 but 1950 or 51 at the latest.
Thanks so much for the info, that’s exactly what I needed…regards, John
I seem to recall parking meters in the late forties. Believe they took pennies.
Tom
Wow, there’s times it’s nice not to be considered an “older member.”
I’m 53 myself. [:D]
You might want to research mailtrucks and boxes also. In that time era they were khaki green in color.
and Stop signs were black on yellow here in CO. till somtime around 60’s I seem to remember but at my age my memery could be wrong Iam 64
Mail truck colors–
“the old color scheme of black chassis, olive drab body and cream
colored body stripe gave way to a new red, white and blue scheme in 1954”
according to U S Mail; the story of the U S Postal Service
Eisenhower administration milepost, along with beginning of Interstate Hwy system.
Yes but like freight cars it didn’t happen overnight. In fact I can take you to a mailbox in Chicago that is still green!
The olive drab (green) mailboxes aren’t usually used for deposit of mail by regular patrons, they’re for use by the on-foot delivery mailman. A area’s mail to be delivered is deposited in there early in the day by a truck driver, then the delivery mailman can pick it up there, and deposit what he/she picked up so far. That way a mailman isn’t carrying around an entire days mail (oh my aching back), or doesn’t have to return repeatedly to the post office.
Look closely at it, while it’s the same general shape as a regular mailbox, there’s no drop slot, or at least a working one.
I’m that OLD. I remember when the parking meters were installed on Purchase Street, the aptly named main drag through Rye, New York, (no it went to Purchase, NY) in the mid thirties. My mother was FURIOUS. I had to run out with a nickel to feed the monster if she took too long to shop the five and dime. That was Woolworth’s then to you younguns, now gone the way of the running boards on our 32 Chrysler. They spread like wildfire all over the country in no time at all. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
My goodness…Woolworth’s with the soda fountain! I’m that old too! My Mom used to shop at W.T. Grants, S.S.Kresge and the A&P super market. And every fall my grand parents would have a truckload of coal dumped through a basement window into the coal bin. Whew! Gotta stop now, I’m feeling really old…LOL!..regards, John
Well John, we are BOTH OLD. Did you also have a horse drawn milk wagon with glass quart bottles with the cream on top? The horse knew the way so he would mosey on to the next stop. How about the ice man who put huge blocks of ice into the Ice Box carrying them over his shoulder with ice tongs. Then there was the fruit and vegetable guy, the knife and scissors sharpener, and how about the organ grinder with the monkey that held out his little hat for pennies. Never a dull moment in th “hood” in those days. Forgot the Good Humor man, those toasted almond bars were to die for. And then came the parking meters. UGH!
Yeah, a man is getting old. Thanks mate, you bring back memories of the ice man, and the baker with his horse and cart, and as you say the horse knew the route. I remember the first supermarket or self service grocery shop in our town.
At that stage I had a Hornby O gauge tin plate train set, and in the real world still plenty of steam engines. The diesels were starting to come into their own, but predominantly steam. [:P][:D][:D]
And no parking meters in our town!!
PS. Where I live now in Jakarta there are no parking meters even now.[tup][:D]
However, there are many thousands of guys who make a living collecting the parking fee. You can think you are away free, but not a chance. One of these guys will leap out with his whistle blowing and his hand out. Not much gets to the city funds I think.[:0]
I started driving in 1952 (in Miami, Florida). I remember getting a parking ticket on Miami Beach, because the meter had expired.