Easton In Letters of Fire

by Ken Klabunde Originally published in the December/January 2009-10 edition of the Easton Irregular

Communities are generally made up of three kinds of people: those who actively go out to make things happen, those who just hope that things will happen, and then there is that group that just hates everything. The Easton Board of Trade’s new renaissance and the forward thinking of the Easton Gas and Electric Company in 1908 were definitely examples of people who wanted to make things happen, and they did in a big way.

Just what do you think the reaction would be from the citizens of Easton and near-by Phillipsburg, New Jersey if a local private corporation, in conjunction with a local board of trade, came up with the proposal to erect a large, conspicuous, fifty-four feet long by forty-five feet high electric sign with over 2,000 animated light bulbs on it within the city limits of Easton? This corporation would be willing to put the sign on one of the hillsides surrounding the city or on the rooftop of an existing city building. This proposed sign would have the name “Easton” on it as well as a slogan or motto for the city. The slogan or motto would be up to the people of the city of Easton to create and agree upon. The sign would then be put up at no cost whatsoever to the City of Easton or to individuals or business firms within the city. The corporation would also absorb the total cost of designing and erecting the sign, and they would also absorb the costs of lighting the sign every day from dusk until midnight.

Now, if this proposal were actually to be presented for consideration today, besides the dozen or so municipal advertising and zoning regulations it probably violates, I would imagine that you would spend at least the next couple of years or so in court fighting off that element of the citizenry that just hate everything.

Thank goodness that the exact proposal that I

City of Resources postcard. Copyright 1909 by D.M. Coughlin, Easton, Pa.