TRAFFIC! The very mention of the word sends shivers through the spines of drivers and civic planners alike! At the turn of the 20th century, automobile traffic was almost unheard of. The very few motorized vehicles that puttered their ways through city streets were far from being a major congestion factor on the roadways–why focus on them when the usual horde of horses, wagons, carriages, streetcars, and pedestrians were constantly jockeying for position at the city’s busiest intersections?

But the automobile boom of the next two decades beggared belief; the motor vehicles were everywhere, to the point of becoming unmanageable. The usual lone police officer making white-gloved gestures amidst the travelling throng was no longer enough. New systems had to be devised to start and stop the flow of automobile traffic at crossings.

In 1920, New York City traffic commissioner put up a set of traffic control towers along Fifth Avenue, the city’s major market thoroughfare. From these rude wood-and-steel towers, electric signals could be operated by police officers in order to control traffic crossings.

The system was an exciting success; traffic congestion dropped considerably, as did traffic casualties and fatalities. By 1922, the ugly boxes were being replaced with elegant, bronze traffic signal towers.

In 1923, Rochester’s commissioner of public safety, Harry J. Bareham, became interested in employing this system in Rochester, NY to ease the congestion problems being experienced along Main Street.

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The Three Towers

At first, a single control tower was discussed for the system of electric signals. However, a quirk in Main Street’s traffic patterns made for some difficulty with that: the traffic was sort of “bipolar”, with two major centers of congestion along East Main, one at State Street and the other east of the river at Clinton Avenue and at the East Avenue junction. Differing traffic patterns in these two sections would make timing signals along the whole road difficult. Additional towers were added to the system, arriving at a final total of three towers.

The below diagram shows all the cross-streets of Main Street from Plymouth Avenue to Gibbs Street. Corner electrical signals are arrayed at each of the intersections.

According to the below article, there was originally meant to be fourth tower at Plymouth Avenue, but that seems to have been whittled down to three:

The below article presents a photograph of the newly-erected traffic tower on the corner of State Street and East Main Street, which was put into place on June 25th of 1924:

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Four Corners

The below photograph by Albert R. Stone portrays the traffic control booth at the corner of Main Street and State Street. It was fixed at the northwest corner of the intersection, in front of the East Main Street Side of the Powers Building.

The Stone photo was used in a 2008 D&C blurb that asserts Rochester had “at least 20” traffic booths by 1924, which I have found no evidence for. I have found evidence for precisely three.

Another angle of the Powers Building, taken in 1924, shows the elevated traffic control booth at the left side of the frame:

This below view east along Main Street allows the elevated traffic control booth to sneak in at left, where it is framed by the hulk of the Elwood Building behind it:

The photo was dated 1928 on the library page, but that cannot be as the last tower would be removed in October, 1927. So I have amended the date to read 1924-1927, the verifiable range of the towers’ existences.

All of the above also applies to the photo below:

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Clinton Avenue & East Main

The traffic control tower at Clinton Avenue and East Main Street was, according to a 1925 Democrat & Chronicle article, the default main control of all towers along East Main Street, although apparently “main control” could be shifted at will to a different tower.

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East Main & East Avenue

The elevated traffic control tower at East Main Street & East Avenue had a separate direct control over lights on East avenue and Franklin Street, as finer control was required over these diagonal arterial roads.

The traffic control tower at East Main Street and East Avenue was pictured below in this 1953 D&C article, which speaks of the towers in reminiscent tones:

The signal tower at East Main and East Avenue also made it onto this postcard:

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Life With the Towers

The new signaling system in place seems to have helped traffic flow somewhat, though the onus was placed on pedestrians to heed the signals.

The main advantage of the system, however, was simply moving the column of thoroughfare traffic along simultaneously, instead of in the drib-drab manner per intersection previously employed, which caused massive congestion. As traffic analysis has since shown, traffic moves a lot like a viscous fluid, and pressure on Rochester’s valves had finally been somewhat relieved by this innovative automated signaling system.

But more improvements to traffic signaling were to arrive rapidly, making the watchful towers above the street obsolete before they’d even got a chance to get shitted up by Rochester’s weather.

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Dismantling the Towers

The towers did not last very long. A new traffic light system was put in place around 1927, and due to their means of operation, the towers were no longer necessary. The towers were apparently taken down in 1927, with the last of them–at Main Street and Clinton Avenue–being removed on October 14th of that year with little fanfare.

And so ended the mayfly life of these three traffic towers. Where did they go? No-one seems to take note. For only three years they conducted the endless stream of traffic along Rochester’s main thoroughfare, then unceremoniously removed and forgotten. No sign remains of their brief watch; no post nor footing nor jog in the pavement. This small area has seen so many alterations and reconstructions–being the corner of a busy downtown intersection–that it would be hopeless to seek signs so old. And yet, hopeless fool that I am, I went there and looked, regardless.

It truly gives one pause to think of how major a change can occur at the everyday street corner. That which was familiar to so many people can change in the blink of an eye, and none thereafter will ever know the difference. But I guess that’s the whole raison d’être of this blog, is it not?

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