By Thomas Palmer
In the early 20th century, “horseless carriages” began to appear on the streets of America and here in Galion. The rate of change was incredibly quick and almost overnight, communities were dealing with new challenges. At first, these included having cars and horses on streets at the same time; soon, however, new problems arose as automobile technology advanced.
Galion City Council was confronted with change in that first decade of the 1900s when concerned residents of West Main Street – today’s Harding Way West – presented a petition highlighting some of these issues. The petition, recently found at the Municipal Building, provides a glimpse into how the concept of traffic safety was barreling into the public consciousness.
The petition read as follows:
“To the Honorable Members of the City Council of the City of Galion, Ohio. Gentlemen: We the undersigned residents of West Main Street and streets leading into said street hereby call your attention to the fact that West Main Street is being used by many automobilists, motor cyclists, street car motormen, and others as a speeding course or district whereon they propel or drive their motor vehicles, cars, horses, etc. at a speed much greater than is permitted by the law and greatly is the danger of the lives and safety of children and other pedestrians on said street. We therefore respectfully petition your honorable body to take such action by the passing of proper speed ordinances or otherwise as may lead to the correction of this evil.”
How fast were the cars of the day? The Ford Model T, introduced in 1908, had a top speed of 42 mph. One could speculate, therefore, that the “speeding” referenced in the petition was likely comparable to current speed limits on the same street. At the time, however, there were likely a few buggies trying to make their way around town and traffic lights were in the future.
How did Council respond? The lack of extant copies of the Galion Inquirer from that decade means that we can only speculate, but it is very likely that the city’s first speed limits were established at the time.
Image by Nathan Wright from Pixabay
