Valley Girl Views: Danville's Street Lights Financed by Dances & A Carnival, 1923

The Street Lights, Mill St Danville Pa

In 1923,the municipal treasury in Danville was "short", and could not afford the new lighting system. An organization known as the Jazz Band decided to raise the money, with the help of local fraternal organizations, by holding dances, a street carnival, a minstrel show, and other entertainments.

The group raised several thousand dollars, which they gave to Council to finance the lights.

Street lights, Mill Street Danville - In the late 1920s

In Prepartion for the new lights, the old light posts were removed by PP&L in April of 1923.

In October of 1923 the Danville Morning News reported: "it is expected that but a short time will elapse before boulevard lights will be gracing Danville's principal street."

The plan was to install the lights along both sides of Mill Street, from the river bridge to the Danville Milling Company. About 76 lights would be needed, according to the Oct 1923 plans.

July 1923

The lights were not all installed at once. The First National Bank (building on the corner of Mill and Bloom Street, columns can be seen on the right here)had a "Trio of Three-Light Standards" delivered in July of 1923. Plans were made to install a large illuminated clock above the doorway too.

The lights were furnished by the Art, Bronze, and Metal company. Two were placed in front of the bank, and the third was installed on Bloom Street, on the North side of the building. H.L. Coira, local electrical contractor, was in charge of the installation.

In January of 1924, the F.O.E were frustrated with the lack of progress on the light project. They asked that if the project was not going to move forward soon that they be allowed to install their own light.

Danville Court House, Showing Street Lamps

In May of 1924, Council voted to not allow a large sign to be erected over the Shuey store on Mill Stree. "Council decided to prevent the erection of such signs because they will interfere with the beauty of the main thoroughfare when the boulevard lights are installed".

In August of 1924, Borough Council was considering a change of location for two of the lights. Two residents of North Mill street, Michael Connelley & Charles P Murray, objected to having lights placed on the sidewalks in front of their homes, and consideration was being given to placing those lights on Bloom Street instead. An agreement was reached with Connelley, but Murray did not want a tree cut down to make room for the new light. The borough solicitor told the committeemen that they had full authority to dig the hole and install the light in front of Murrays house, and the council decided to go forward as planned.

In September of 1925 the lights were "experiencing difficulties". It was found that the pot heads, which were cup shaped, were holding water in the standards. The water was causing the lights to cease functionating. The report said that Bloomsburg, Milton, and Sunbury had similar pot heads in their boulevard light standards, without having the same issues. But those towns did not have as high of a voltage in their lights.

The new lights on the Danville River Bridge were turned on for the first time March 16th 1926. Note that the lights in the park beside the bridge are a different design than those that were on Mill Street.

A closer look at lights at Riverside Park

Where Are The Lights Today?

Not in Lewisburg, despite rumors. Most of our local towns had similar 3 globe lamps at one time. They can be seen in photos of Danville, Lewisburg, and Williamsport, just to name a few. Lewisburg is the only town to still have their iconic lights, but they were installed back in 1912, not taken from another town.

Danville light on the left, Lewisburg light on the right. Although similar in Design, the posts are very different.

The Danville light posts were produced by the Art Bronze and Iron works. When the lights were removed, most of the posts were sold for scrap. Several were purchased by a local resident, and a few of them remain on private property.

Rumors persist that the lights on the bridge between Lewisburg and Montandon [but not the lights on Market Street in Lewisburg] came from Danville. It seems unlikely, since the lights on the bridge are the same style as the lights all down Market street. Possibly some of the globes from Danville came to Lewisburg.

In January of 1940, the Daily Item reported that residents were demanding the Lewisburg bridge be lighted once again. "The bridge was lighted at one time with lights in the top girder of every span, but the globes were broken so often, allegedly by youths throwing stones at them, that officials tired of purchasing new lights and removed the old ones."

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