Did you know?
There were lots of things happening in and around Uniontown in 1937.
There was a trial involving the famous Monaghan case, and the famous “fan dancer” Sally Rand – a woman described as “the most widely known woman in the world,”- made a personal appearance at the State Theatre and at the G.C. Murphy Co. store on Main Street.
Meanwhile, while renowned aviator, Amelia Earhart, was making headlines around the world, another renowned aviator, Dr. J.D. Brock of Kansas City, made an overnight stop in Uniontown, taking time away from his 2,000 consecutive days of taking an airplane into the air.
But there was one story that was woven through the entirety of that year – parking meters.
Yep! “Park-O-Meters,” as they were called back then, were those newfangled inventions that ignited controversy, curiosity, acceptance, and, eventually, approval in Uniontown.
On May 5, 1937, the Uniontown Morning Herald reported on its front page that, “Council Agrees on Parking Meters.”
There were to be 500 of them, costing $58 dollars each, to be installed on city streets.
But that decision hadn’t come without a few ruffled feathers.
The Uniontown Daily News Standard had reported in its April 16 edition that the “Park-O-Meter” plan had, “Some For, Some Against, Chamber of Commerce Survey Finds.”
A number of cities across the country, according to the survey, didn’t have any parking meters. And that few had plans to get them.
Uniontown, apparently was near the forefront of the “Park-O-Meter” movement.
The folks in Wheeling, W.Va., for instance, answered “Emphatically, Np!” when asked if they had them. “We fought them and won,” they concluded.
In fact, the News Standard reported in February of that year, that in Birmingham, Ala., the state’s Supreme Court had enjoined that city from installing parking meters.
It ruled that it was “an unauthorized exercise of the city’s taxing power.”
But plans were moving forward in Uniontown to charge the city’s motorists a nickel-an-hour if they planned to park on city streets.
After Uniontown’s merchants voiced their strong opinions about Park-O-Meters, the very first set of them were installed – “for a 120-day trial period” – in early June.
Personally, I’ve never thought of parking meters as having much entertainment value. But I was raised in the 1950s, when they were commonplace.
Consider the fascination that was caused on June 1, when “Installation Of New Parking Meters Started,” on West Main Street.
According to that day’s Daily News Standard, “Local motorists watched preliminary work with considerable interest figuring out, at the same time, how many nickels they’d probably be spending during the next year.”
On June 3, the Daily News Standard published five pictures of local contractors installing the new parking meters across the top of its front page.
Another picture showed a little boy taking a close look at one of the newly installed meters.
“Then George Crable, 7, comes along to try it out. Look out, George, that ‘wet paint’ sign isn’t fooling,” said that picture’s caption.
“Parking Meters Relieve Jam,” read a Morning Herald headline, on June 8.
On June 25th, it was reported that “They’ve Gotta Use Nickels, Not Slugs And Washers, Officer Holmes Discovers.”
Holmes had found all manner of round discs used instead of nickels.
Perhaps that’s why, a few days earlier, on June 14th, the Morning Herald carried the headline: “Parking Meters Bringing in Less That $1 Week Each.”
Or that the total first week’s take for all of the meters, as reported by the Daily News Standard on June 12, was only $63.”
It’s obvious, though, that the new mechanical devices were slowly becoming valued “members” of the community. Perhaps not for some city motorists, but they were certainly adding to the city’s coffers.
In August, it was reported that some of the 342 meters that were in operation, would be replaced by some that would allow two and three hours of parking, instead of just one.
On Nov. 11, it became obvious to everybody in Uniontown – or those people visiting – that “Park-O-Meters” were quite welcome.
“Flow of Gold Into City Till From Parking Meters; Since October Total Receipts Have Been $9,855,” read a headline in the Morning Herald.
Success!
You can’t accuse Uniontown of never being forward thinking.
I have even more proof of that.
In the June 11, 1937 edition of the Morning Herald, I found the following paragraph on the editorial page: “Someone suggests that new traffic regulations provide that a right turn may be made at any time regardless of signal lights. It would require some readjustment in parking but, it is suggested, would serve to keep traffic morning.”
Of course that’s a proposal for instituting the “right-on-red” procedures that we make use of today.
That was in 1937. Right-on-red laws weren’t instituted in the country until the early 1970s.