The Bowery Boys: Electric New York
HISTORY This Week
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Lighting of New York by Tom Etison
In 16 97, new york was a british colony. The magistrates passed a law making it mandatory for the home owners to have a light hung out on a pole from an open window at night. So everyone was personally responsible for lighting their own property and the streets that were surrounding it. And you can imagine the people were complaining about it. But of course, if we rewind to the seventeenth century, or really the beginning of the eighteenth century, this was part of living in a small colony.
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