Cincinnati Street Gas Lamps

About 1,172 cast iron gas street lamps remain in use in Cincinnati's neighborhoods and in parts of Columbia and Sycamore Townships. Each post stands roughly eight feet tall, weighs 200 to 450 pounds, and carries a Boulevard-style fixture. Most posts are believed to have been made around 1895 by a range of foundries, producing patterns such as full ivy, half ivy, fluted tapered, and composite designs. Gas street lighting began in Cincinnati when City Council bought one hundred cast iron lamp posts in 1843, and the number of lamps peaked at 9,512 in 1892 before electric lighting reduced it. The Boulevard fixture, patterned in 1898, became standard in the city. Lamplighters gave way to timing devices from 1928, and since 1956 the lamps have burned around the clock. The district was recognized as an example of lighting technology and for the unusual number of lamps still operating, which give many streets a distinctive yellow glow beside older architecture.