Why Austin Still Lights Its Streets With 165-Foot Moonlight Towers

Look up almost anywhere near downtown Austin and you might spot a skinny iron tower taller than a 15-story building.

It is a moonlight tower, and it has been lighting Austin's streets since the 1890s.

Plenty of American cities had towers like these once. According to Austin Energy, Austin is the only city in the world that still has working ones.

A City Shopping for Moonlight

In the 1880s, Austin's streets went dark at sunset. The city had no outdoor lighting until 1894, according to the design podcast 99% Invisible.

In 1890, Austin voters approved bonds for a dam and hydroelectric powerhouse on the Colorado River, and the Austin Dam was finished in 1893, according to Austin Energy.

The Handbook of Texas notes that the original tower contract even included the electric generators installed at that dam.

Secondhand From Detroit

Detroit had the largest tower lighting system in the country, and that is where Austin bought its 31 towers, 99% Invisible reports.

The Handbook of Texas says they were made by the Fort Wayne Electric Company, shipped to Austin in pieces and put up in 1894 and 1895.

Each one is 165 feet tall, built as a vertical iron truss and held steady by guy wires.

In early May 1895, switches were thrown and all 31 towers lit up, the start of the city's electric utility, according to Austin Energy.

Why Light a City From 165 Feet Up?

The towers were built for carbon-arc lamps, which the Handbook of Texas says spread light over a large area.

Each tower carried six of them, giving off a blue-white light that reached about 3,000 feet across, according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

There was a catch. Arc lamps burned through their carbon rods fast, so a worker had to go up every tower to replace them every day.

The National Trust says Austin's first tower trimmer earned $2.50 a day. You can still see signs of the old pulley system on the towers, KUT reports.

Too Expensive to Tear Down

The towers switched to incandescent lamps in 1925 and to mercury-vapor lamps in 1936, according to the Handbook of Texas.

Most other cities had already pulled their towers down by then, 99% Invisible says, but Austin could not afford to remove its own.

So they stayed. In 1970 they were named state archeological landmarks, and by 1976 they were on the National Register of Historic Places.

In the early 1990s, the city took each tower down, sandblasted, repaired and repainted it, and put it back on its original spot, the Handbook says.

Seventeen Survivors

Seventeen of the original 31 towers still exist, according to KUT and Austin Energy.

Most stand in the older neighborhoods near downtown, the Handbook of Texas notes.

Austin Energy linemen still climb them today, KUT reports, though the old arc lamps have been swapped for LED bulbs.

The Tower That Turns Into a Christmas Tree

The most famous tower is in Zilker Park. Every holiday season it becomes the Zilker Holiday Tree.

The City of Austin says the tree uses 39 streamers of lights, 3,309 bulbs in all, anchored to 19 poles arranged in a circle around the moonlight tower.

Mayor Pro Tem Emma Long lit it for the first time on December 10, 1967, according to the city.

A Party at the Moontower

The towers got a pop culture moment in Richard Linklater's 1993 movie Dazed and Confused, when Matthew McConaughey's character Wooderson announces a party out at the moontower.

The National Trust notes the towers were a symbol of the city even before that line made them famous.

How to See One

The easiest tower to visit is the one in Zilker Park. Walking up to it costs nothing.

Next time you pass one, remember it was bought secondhand in 1894 and nobody has turned it off since.

Do you have a moonlight tower near you? Tell us which one in the comments.