Wednesday, April 16, 2025
A Salt Lake City cop is credited with inventing the first electric traffic light in 1912.
Urban Living
Posted By Babs De Lay on April 16, 2025, 4:00 AM
The very first "horseless carriage" was seen in Utah on April 12, 1899. It was a new purchase by the Salt Lake Hardware Company (now out of business, but the building has been preserved at 400 West and North Temple). No one who had ever been out of the state had seen such a contraption and it definitely caused people to stop and stare as the Winton Motor Carriage putt-putted along our downtown streets.
Newspapers reported that groups of boys would stand on the sidewalks and cheer as the car passed by. By 1906, autos were common and by 1915, Utah began issuing license plates. People had been making their own plates and mounting them on their cars up until that year—the beginning of what we now know as personalized plates. Drivers had to register their cars locally starting in 1909.
With cars came traffic, and with increased traffic came collisions. The first electric traffic light was invented and installed in Salt Lake City in 1912 by Lester Wire, a police detective who had been appointed to head the department's first traffic bureau.
Back then, traffic cops stood at busier intersections on a box to direct traffic. But drivers often didn't obey and would stop or turn where and when they wanted. The police would stand on these platforms for hours, no matter what the weather, and so Wire decided to create a better traffic control system.
On the website The Dead History, it says that Wire envisioned the electric traffic signal with two light bulbs—one he dipped in green paint, the other in red.
Wire's contraption looked much like a two-hole bird house and was located on 200 South and Main Street. Residents laughed and made fun of the thing but soon folks saw the wisdom of traffic control.
"License Plate Day" in the United States is April 25. This commemorates the first-ever license plate issued in the country. This occurred in 1901 in New York state (up until that year there was no official way to identify vehicles). The U.S. copied what had been done in the Netherlands and France, which had already started national databases of motorized vehicles in the 1890s.
Good history bit to use in a trivia night battle—in 1928, Idaho was the first state to put a logo on its plate (the "Idaho Potato").
If Utah drivers order a black-and-white vanity plate by July 1, 2025, all of the money they pay will go to support the Utah Historical Society. After that date, $2 will go to the Historical Society, but the remaining revenue will be added to the Utah Transportation Fund.
About The Author
Babs De Lay
A full-time broker/owner of Urban Utah Homes and Estates, Babs De Lay serves on the Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission. A writer and golfer, you'll find them working as a staff guardian at the Temple at Burning Man each year.
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