Burnt Orange Report

The Moonlight Towers

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I first learned about Austin's apparently well known and well loved Moonlight Towers this summer when I lived at the 21st St Co-op and just a block away was one of the remaining 17 towers, the most well known of which turns into the big Zilker park electric Christmas Tree each fall. The Texan had a really great article on the history and background of them, as well as how Austin residents over the past 110 years have taken care of them, passing millions of dollars in bonds to secure their existence and maintenance.

Today, only 17 of the 31 original towers remain, but they continue to be lit 365 nights a year.

In May 1890, citizens voted to issue $1.4 million in bonds for the city's first power and lighting system as city organizers began developing plans for the growing town. The lighting of the original towers on May 6, 1895 coincided with the first operation of the city power plant and the first citywide use of electricity.

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When Austin erected the tower system, Detroit, Mich., was believed to have been the only other city in America with similar lighting. By the late 1930s, Detroit had abandoned its tower lighting system, and the San Antonio Express-News wrote in 1937 that the Moonlight Towers "attract more attention than any other single feature in Austin."

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While advertising value kept the towers aloft in 1937, sentimental value has kept them alive since then and has earned them the affectionate title of the "Moonlight Towers." When the electric department tried to take down one of the towers in 1964 without assuring immediate relocation, hundreds of citizens signed a petition demanding that the city council immediately reestablish the tower in its original area.

Sentiments were quite different before construction of the towers, when many people predicted the 24-hour light would cause severe overgrowth of gardens and lawns. Farmers feared that giant corn and beans would be impossible to harvest and that homeowners would have to chop their grass with an axe. Optimists, on the other hand, claimed that chickens would lay eggs 24 hours a day.

People soon realized that the artificial moonlight had no effect on plants or animals.

In 1958, superintendent Tom Turner, of the electric distribution department, was asked if there were any plans to tear down the towers. Turner laughingly replied that the town would "stage a revolt" if that were attempted. The most serious threat of removal came in 1942 as World War II gripped America and the ability of a town to "blackout" all of its lights was considered a crucial defense. The city installed a central "blackout" switch for all of the towers in case of an attack.

Rumor has it the towers were arranged across the city in the shape of a star. In fact, they were just put where they were needed, and they don't form a star.