“[The parking meter is] just another way of getting money out of people…”
Sugar Ray Robinson, on New York’s first meter
In 1932, Carl Magee, lawyer, newspaper publisher, and newly appointed chair of the Oklahoma traffic committee, was asked to develop a solution to the problem of traffic congestion in the city. He observed that many people were driving into town and parking their cars all day, blocking up the streets. This slowed trade in shops, because people could not park nearby, and there was no turnover of custom. As a solution to this problem, Magee struck upon the idea of the parking meter. He designed a crude prototype and then joined with the Oklahoma State University to develop the idea. The result of this was the first coin-operated parking meter, dubbed the "Black Maria," and it was installed on July 16,1935.
The Reverend C. H. North was the first
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