Sunday, August 14, 2005
Nevada Neon Nights - Photo History
Neon came to Nevada just after the first interstate highways were built. The first to be completed was the Victory Highway -- later called U.S. 40 and nowadays Interstate 80. The first documented neon sign in Nevada is shown in a photograph by Frederick Jukes of the People's Market in Elko, which is dated 1928. Actually, electric signs, composed of hundreds of incandescent bulbs, had begun to replace the older painted signs a few years before. The Nevada State Journal of January 21,1924, blazoned forth, "Great White Way in Reno Shows Growth, Many New Electric Signs Are Installed in City." In Reno the completion of both the Victory Highway and the Lincoln Highway (later U.S. 50) was the occasion for a grand Transcontinental Highway Exposition, preparations for which included the erection of the first arch across Virginia Street with the slogan, "The Biggest Little City in the World."It was modeled after similar signs in central and southern California towns that beckoned auto travelers on the new highways to pause a while to sample the local pleasures. In 1934 the incandescent bulbs were replaced with neon as an economy measure. - More
|
