When I was growing up on street of Victorian houses in Montclair, NJ, in 1950 neighbors still sat out on their porches. Our windows would be open to hear the jingling bells of the Good Humor Truck. Life did seem gentler.

How I'd like to be on that porch sipping lemonade with those folk.

The first city in the United States to successfully demonstrate incandescent electric lighting was Cleveland, with 12 electric lights around the Public Square on April 29, 1879.

In observation of the electric poles, glass insulators, shiny wiring, and street lamp void of cobwebs, I would venture to bet this 1907 photo was showcasing the new residential electric project along Bethlehem Street. I am pretty sure it took several years for towns to tackle residential street lighting following their initial focus on lighting their downtown districts.

[Most of the wires here are for telephones, not lighting. This is just one of thousands of similar small-town photos in the DPC inventory of glass plates. - Dave]

Traveling east.