World’s first parking meter

Downtown business saw that advantage of cars: they allowed customers from every corner of the city to visit their stores. They also saw the disadvantage: customers could leave their car parked in front indefinitely, taking up valuable space that other potential customers might want to use. Carl C. Magee, an intrepid reporter just settled in the city to launch his own newspaper company, came up with the solution: a device to limit the time drivers could leave their cars parked by forcing them to pay for the privilege.

On this day, July 16, in 1935, Magee’s invention, the Park-O-Meter was installed at the intersection of First Street and Robinson Avenue in Oklahoma City.

Drivers naturally resented the idea of having to pay to park on public streets, equating it to an unlawful tax. Store owners supported the idea, however, and the parking meter idea took off. Within five years, more than 100,000 sprang up in the major U.S. cities.