Here’s a challenge for you: if you have a moment, throw on a coat and run outside and see if you can find all 327,000 or so traffic lights in America. If you have a little extra time and a bit of petty cash, you could also try and see the 100 to 150 million traffic lights across the globe. Maybe take some pictures or keep a notebook so you can jot down anything interesting about the ones you see. Now, did you notice anything interesting? I bet you did. And I bet what you noticed was that, aside from a few outlier horizontally-oriented traffic signals, all those lights were oriented the same way: with red on top, green on the bottom, and some manner of yellow/amber in the middle.
Well, all are like that except for one place: the traffic lights at one particular intersection of one particular neighborhood in Syracuse, New York.
That neighborhood is called Tipperary Hill, and the intersection where the upside-down traffic light hangs (Tompkins St. and Milton Ave.) may also be the only intersection in the world that features a memorial with bronze statues commemorating vandalism to traffic lights. I guess I should explain what’s going on here.
Tipperary Hill is a very Irish neighborhood, with a long history of Irish immigrants who came and formed a tight-knit community, proud of their Irish heritage, a heritage that included a good dose of anti-British sentiment. As the population of the city grew, traffic became more complex, so a traffic signal was installed at an intersection in the middle of Tipperary Hill in 1925.
This was fairly early in the history of traffic lights, with the first three-color (red, yellow, green) traffic light having been invented by Detroit traffic officer William Potts in 1920. Interestingly, this early traffic light had four sides, and two of those sides had green on top, and two had red on top:
Unfortunately for the people of Tipperary Hill, though, by 1925 traffic lights had standardized on an order that placed red on top, then yellow, then green at the bottom, and this was how the traffic light at Tipperary Hill was installed.
For many of the people of Tipp Hill, this wasn’t acceptable. The colors of those lights were leaden with far too much symbolic meaning for people, with green being the traditional color of the Irish, and red associated with the British. After their experiences and differences with the British across the sea, many Irish Tipp Hillians could not abide seeing their beloved green literally beneath the red they associated with the British.
Some versions of the story suggest that City Alderman John “Huckle” Ryan requested that the green light be oriented on the top at the beginning, but then the state of New York made them reverse it to match the standard; other retellings say it went up initially with red on top. Either way, the displeasure at the red-topped light was soon expressed very dramatically thanks to a group of boys known as the “Stone Throwers” who, as you may have guessed, chucked stones at the light, smashing the bulbs and requiring that the light be repaired.
Over and over again, day after day, the city would fix the lights, and the Stone Throwers would smash them. The light was removed for a while to let things calm down, but upon its re-installation, boom, it was smashed again.
Eventually, on St.Patrick’s Day 1928, the city relented and agreed to install the traffic light upside-down, with green above red, and it’s stayed that way ever since. The light seems to be the only upside-down traffic light in America, and possibly the world, though I can’t really confirm that.
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A memorial was built in 1997 featuring a bronze statue of an Irish family pointing at the stoplight, commemorating the Stone Throwers and their dogged vandalism of the traffic light. It may be the only municipal monument to an act of vandalism of a piece of city property in the world, too?
Here’s how the website for the monument describes the meaning of the memorial:
In the years 1919-1921, the Irish were fighting their war of independence. Many Irish were killed by British officers during this war. Despite the war being over for four years, there were still left over feelings of resentment towards the British. In Syracuse, New York 1925, there was a group of Irish boys nicknamed the “Stone Throwers” who became infamous for refusing to allow the green light to hang below the red light on a new traffic light at the intersection of Tompkins and Milton Avenues. The boys included Jocko Behan, Richie Britt, James “Duke” Coffee, Patrick “Packy” Corbett, Kenny Davis, George Dorsey, Mikis Murphy, Stubbs Shortt, and Eugene Thompson (Syracuse Parks Conservatory 2023). According to George Dorsey’s wife Mary Dorsey, the boys were nicknamed the “Stone Throwers” because the boys would stand outside a Tipp Hill corner store, seething at this light with green on the bottom. When the coast was clear, they would throw stones at the light (Kirst 2016,193) smashing the red light. After repeatedly refitting the broken glass, the city of Syracuse permanently hung the green light over the red (Syracuse Parks Conservatory 2023). To the Irish community, the green light hung above the red light symbolizes Irish identity, pride and independence from the British.
The Stone Throwers were formally pardoned in 1987, so if anyone reading this was part of that group of hooligans, it’s safe to venture out into public again.
The neighborhood’s dwellers are very proud of its history of defiance and abuse of traffic lights, as you can see in this video:
The light has become a sort of symbol of the neighborhood, and a bit of a tourist draw. I suspect the traffic light isn’t the sole reason people venture out there – the high density of charming pubs in the area is likely a more valid reason – but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
I’ve yet to find any data suggesting that this intersection has more accidents than ones with traffic lights in the expected orientation; I suspect if you’re there, you know what’s up, and you’re ready for the change.
I also guess if you there and know what’s up, you’re pretty happy to see that green on top as well.
Top graphic images: City of Syracuse; The Clio
” I’ve yet to find any data suggesting that this intersection has more accidents than ones with traffic lights in the expected orientation”, We knew a kid in high school that was color blind, almost got into an accident driving in Washington DC beacause the traffic light were horizontal at the time, and he had no idea where red was.
All this drinking, violence, destruction of property! Are these the things that we think of when we think of the Irish? – Kent Brockman
Reminds me of the little college down where I went to school in upstate NY, which is so small, it only has a single traffic light in the whole town. It’s oriented the usual way, but there’s a traffic light ceremony every year on the anniversary of its installation. There’s not much to do in a town as small as that one, so traffic light anniversary parties it is
I’m from Central NY and lived here in Syracuse for the past 35ish years, happy to see this story.
We also have the Irish immigrants to thank for Salt Potatoes. They are skin-on, small new/baby potatoes (in the 1″ to 2″ range) that are boiled in heavily salted water – 1:8 ratio of salt to water, or 1lb of salt for every 4lbs of potatoes – for about 20 to 30 minutes and served with melted butter.
The chemistry behind what makes them great: the brine boils at a higher temperature, which does two things to the potato. The starch inside cooks more completely, creating a creamier texture, and the skin outside tighens and forms a delicate crust with the salt.
When cooked correctly, they are delicious and not as salty as you’d expect them to be. The most common mistake is not using enough salt for the chemistry to work.
I keep ending up with dang philosophers stones.
Sweet! I imagine you make a lot of money transmuting lead into gold. Which will come in handy as you live forever.
They only render gold if you start with gold fillings.