Show old sol goes to bed be bind the distant jersey hills WHEN and the stare make their appearance pe arance overhead in their deep blue canopy then in a twinkling new york rushes from the cover ot darkness turns on the switch and greets the night by becoming the brightest spot on earth to attain this result a huge number of lamps is required over 2000 ot about 45 candle power the street lamp illumination under municipal direction although of first importance Is not by halt the only way that manhattan dispels the dark nees to this should be added the enormous candle power of thousands of electric signs and hundred of lights in front of stores theaters hotels apartment houses and in shop win dows on top of these must be piled up high the 8 candle power of the lights which radiate from out of the windows of the buildings both public and private and also the ex posed lighting from building decora alons glittering marvel just as soon as the evening begins broadway Dro adway seventh avenue eighth avenue all the cross streets between the battery and van cortland park the arches of twinkling on the tour east river bridges every highway and byway in the five bor boughs of the greater city is a sparkle with lamps in upper new york and across on long island long serried lines of gilt terling points reach out through and dispel the darkness marking distinct ly the course of boulevards and high ways that connect the city with the lamps the last being need principally in park lighting the best lighted thoroughfare in new york today in fact in this whole country Is fifth avenue lighting ex ports after comparing street with the best lighted streets in london and berlin are of the opinion that the american method of illuminating this highway Is by far the best yet reached fifth avenue once dark and gloomy tunnel began to attract atten alon as a particularly well lighted street a beautiful vista of glowing arcs when in 1892 it was erst lighted with the ward type of multiple two ln series and the installation Install aton of these lamps was e foundation of the pros ent efficient arc lamp equipment in ew york streets the city is still experimenting in street illumination looking to the am provement pro of the system in general the great white way which attracts at night the visitor to the city like the magnet does the needle Is of course the brightest spot on manhattan island but it Is not the city but the individual the advertiser who makes it so new york merchants stand in line and fight over their position for the use of some electric eign sites so eager are they to add to the general glare emanating from upper broad way one single man will pay from 10 to 15 a year for a good site and be s glad to do it it Is estimated that more than a million dollars la spent yearly in site rentals alone displays on broadway As near as can be estimated thero are at least electrical displays on broadway between twenty third street outside world here and there in the very heart ot it high spots of alon veritable aisles ot light reveal parks and public squares viewed as a whole its a wonderful glittering marvel ot eye dazzling allu min atlon and then by way ot con to think that ten years ago new york was down and out as a well light ed city long freely used in other towns had hardly come into use and feeble gas lamps with open flame were in the majority with only here and there at rare intervals arc lamps and mantle gas lamps mixed in then one day just a decade bach the people woke up they were tired of stumbling home through dismal streets and of being held up and relieved of their valuables under cover of the darkness A general demand was made that something be done quickly to improve the street lighting the city was beard and then as al addan rubbed bis lamp electricity be aed and the arc lamps were practically gan to come into its own the flick erang open flame lamps were doubled in number at avenue and street intersections and symmetrical ly arranged on street house alnee the city began to be really lit up city engineers and central station men worked like beavers to improve conditions once their interest was aroused and in the short space of the time mentioned the street lighting of new york was revolutionized until its present effectiveness is the admiration and wonder of all visitors in new york today there are 83 street lights both arc and in candes cent there are 19 arcs and and every one of them Is burning every night in the year in the borough of manhattan alone 9 arc lamps are employed to light the cites main thoroughfares and cross streets as well as 4 incandescent v and fifty ninth street having nearly a million lamps that the cost of lighting the great white way for ten or twelve blocks in the environs of forty second street mounts into millions each year la generally admitted by electric experts just how many they cannot say it must not be thought for an in stant that the white light district is the only section of the big town in which electrical signs are to be found as aside from those on broadway Dro adway at least 3 of them are distributed in various other sections of the borough of manhattan these contain at the lowest estimate lamps which contribute 6 added candle power to the general illumination brooklyn has 2 more electric signs to its credit which are cespon elble or 1000 additional candle power while in the bronx queens and richmond sections many more electric signs are to be found doing their part toward making greater new york at night the most brilliant city in the world |