NEB&W Guide to Neon SignsThis file is open to website members only
Last Update: 2008-11-11
Details Table of Contents
Scenery, Structures & Details Table of Contents
The Flatiron building in New York City had the first outdoor electric sign, from 1,500 incandescent lamps. Eventually this lead to the familiar "Great White Way" of Broadway.
Fluorescent and neon lamps go back to 1683, when a static electric device produced momentary light. In 1744, Johann Heinrich Winkler of Leipzig shook a vacuum tube filled with mercury and found it gave off light