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This is a salvaged piece I have been trying to aquire for about 4 years. The gentlemen who had the light gave me the fixture and arm of the light and suggested I return for the post/pole at a later date. At the time scrap prices were low and he just wanted the piece out of his yard. By the time I had arranged for a friend of mine to haul the light to my property, the owner of the light decided he wanted top dollar for the pole that went with the fixture. I went back and forth for about a year and finally talked him into a trade for some hard to find lighting parts I had extras of in my collection. This of course does not include the two cases of beer I gave my buddy to transport the pole safely, but I still think I came out a winner. The pole is about 30-35' and arrived today, thankfully in the same undamaged condition as when I first saw it 4 years earlier. This is a little bit of a unique piece which is why I was so keen to aquire it. In 1976 a handful of these fixtures were produced to commemorate the bicentennial celebration in Baltimore. It was made by Welsbach to mimic the early gas street lights made by the same company in the late 1800's and early 1900's. These lights were placed throughout the Baltimore Zoo and at the entrance of Druid Hill Park where the Baltimore Zoo is located. These lights were designed to pay tribute to the original gas street lighting in Baltimore, and to recognize Baltimore as the birthplace of gas lighting in the United States. Ironically, the city in there wisdom scrapped all the original street lighting in Druid Hill park prior to the bicentennial to make way for the fixtures you see here in the photos. The street lighting prior to this dated back to the early 1900's. You can still see lights similar to the original ones that once stood in Druid Hill Park in parts of DC. The lights produced for the bicentennial have since been scrapped as well. I belive there are still one or two in the Baltimore Zoo itself, but I have not been there in a few years. I would imagine there are a few in private collections throughout the city but I have no way of knowing how many actually survived the scrap pile. I plan to work on the piece this fall and hopefully have it installed by late spring of next year. Any suggestions on the restoration or additional insights on the fixture are welcome.


Dave

Dave - great snag! I'm confused though - is this from 1975 or earlier?

The light was manufactured early in 1976 to commemorate the bicentennial celebration that was to take place later that year in Baltimore. Although gas street lighting in Baltimore had long been abandoned, (the last gas light in service was extinguished August 4, 1957) the city wanted these new "modern" electric streetlights to pay homage to the thousands of gas street lights that once lined nearly the entire city of Baltimore. Baltimore's significance in the history of gas lighting as well as the gas industry in the united states, was most likely what prompted city officals to commission the lights in the first place. (Baltimore was the birthplace of the gas industry in the united states and the first city in the U.S. to have gas lighting) The Welsbach company had been based in Baltimore since the mid-late 1800's and manufactured all of the gas street lighting in Baltimore, as well as most of the cities on the east coast. I am not certain whether Welsbach was still based in Baltimore when these lights were manufactured. Welsbach moved to Branford Conneticutt, in the mid 70's and became the Pennsylvania Globe Gaslight Company. Regardless, the new lights were supposed to mimic the unique and iconic look of the welsbach no. 36 fixture while providing all the maintenance free features of a modern electric light.

The photo above shows one of the Welsbach no. 36 gas street lights that I have restored, and fixture that the city wanted the new lights to be modeled after. There were several other variations of the fixture, as well as more decorative and elaborate pole designs. You can see many of the other fixture and pole styles as well as some close-ups of the burner and timer mechanisms that originally sat inside the fixtures here in Baltimore in my other thread here
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=13308
You can see how the "new" 1976 street lights pulled elements from the original welsbach's to create the fixtures for the bicentennial celebration. The major differences frome the original fixtures, are that the milk glass tops were replaced by a spun aluminum tops painted white. The fixture itself was cast in aluminum instead of cast iron. The lenses were poly instead of glass, and the pole was stamped out and then rolled and welded instead of cast. Also the vented top was just for show and did not function or provide any ventailation at all. I know this is more info than you asked for, hope you don't mind. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

That is cool.

More info than you asked That rocks, Very cool light posts and heads
I'm not aware or familiar with St. lights Do you call the tops heads

vaughn wrote:More info than you asked That rocks, Very cool light posts and heads
I'm not aware or familiar with St. lights Do you call the tops heads

I do, but that doesn't mean its the correct term. That's just how it worded the post.

If anyone from the Baltimore area can help shed some light on the original paint scheme for the light in this post. I am having trouble nailing it down. I scraped through some of the layers of paint on the fixture but I am not getting anything consistent. Any and all help is appreciated.

Visited the Baltimore Zoo today and spotted this street light hiding in the trees. There are a few more in still in service in Druid hill park where the zoo is located, but most of them have been replaced or taken down all together. At least now I have a reference for a paint scheme when I decide to start restoring the fixture pictured earlier in this thread. Unfortunately I am not sure if this was the original paint scheme or if the lights were repainted differently after the inital installation.