Streetlights of the Monumental City

Photos by Adam Paul
with major help from Chris McNally

Sodium Vapor is all the rage. Perhaps that's an overstatement. I can't recall the last time I saw a person getting all excited at the sight of a sodium vapor lamp.

But a Novalux? Spherolite? Now that's something I've seen people get excited about. Of course, I can sometimes hang out with people who may not fit the definition of "normal," (not that I am either), so perhaps I'm used to rather eclectic audience.

Mercury Fixture at Dusk - Eastern Avenue

Is the day about to end for these nifty old Westinghouse mercury fixtures?

So when I got the word from friends that Baltimore County was a last gasp homestead for a number of old Westinghouse and General Electric mercury lamp fixtures from the 1950's, I knew it was my duty as the webmaster of the area's website devoted to such arcane material, to investigate the matter, and offer a page of great photos of these magnificent, mercury vapor dinosaurs.

I had previously noted and documented similar lights down at Sparrows Point on the vintage lights page, but really knew very little about the lamps at the time, other than the fact that they looked old, and I hadn't recalled seeing similar ones elsewhere.

After getting some helpful emails, and opening my eyes to some suggested leads, I came to discover that there are a decent amount of these old mercury lamp lights left on some of the arteries of Baltimore County, though they may be on borrowed time.

The lights basically come in two varieties: The Westinghouse lamps tend to have the more peanut shaped diffusers, and have a less reflective dull silver top. GE's on the other hand, are shaped more like a squat, round blimp, and have a more highly reflective silver top.

So where do these lights linger? There are a decent amount to be found on Eastern Boulevard near the city line, as well as on Dundalk Avenue as well. Still others persist on York Road in Cockeysville, along Joppa Road near Loch Raven, as well as a couple of isolated ones on Loch Raven Boulveard and York Road a little way from the city line. If these are not in your area of travel, take a peek at Wilkens Avenue near UMBC, Edmondson Avenue near Northbend or even on Hanover Pike above Reisterstown and you can find a couple of these odd old lamps, at least for now.

So how long will they hang on? Likely until the fixtures wear out, or some sort of federal grant is secured to eliminate the last of them. Even still, one would not be suprised to find a couple surivors afterwards.


This row of streetlights on Dundalk Avenue east of the City line illustrates the range of the old mercury lights. Nearest the camera is a Westinghouse, which is sided by a GE immediately following.	Unlike the red-yellow spectrum created by today's Sodium Vapor lamps, the old mercurys produce more of a blue-green tinge in their light spectrum.
While most mercuries are mounted to wooden poles, this one at Center Place actually has its own steel poles. The ballasts are likely inside the pole or base.	Greeting motorists on Edmondson Avenue as soon as they cross the city line into Baltimore County is this Westinghouse lamp.
In busy scenes like this, it can sometimes be hard to pick out the old mercury lights,...	...but a closer look at this lamp at Eastern and North Point Boulevards shows this old GE light.
This mass of wires, poles, and trees shows how tricky it can sometimes be to find the old lights, such as this one at Edmondson and Rolling.	Peeking out from the trees on Hanover Pike above Reisterstown is this old GE light, on a the stretch of route 30 near the WMRR.
With a dramatic sky in the background, this Westinghouse lamp manages to add a comfortable, quaint feel to the environs.	No, this GE light is not trying to hide from removal, but has a shade attached to avoid distubing light from entering an adjacent window. This lamp is just West of the Maiden Choice Shopping Center on Wilkens Avenue.
Though their general population has remained suprisingly steady over the past couple of years, the old mercury lamps still disappear from time to time. This lamp on Melvin Avenue above Frederick has vanished since this photo was snapped in 2002.

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