when were street lights invented

Street lights, in the sense of organized public lighting, started appearing in European cities in the early 1400s, but electric street lights arrived much later in the late 1800s.

Earliest street lighting

• In 1417, London’s mayor ordered that houses hang lanterns outside on winter nights, one of the first organized public street‑lighting systems.

• By the 16th century, cities like Paris were requiring torches or lanterns at intersections and in windows facing streets to keep public spaces lit after dark.

From fire to gas lamps

• Early systems relied on open flames: torches, candles, and oil lamps placed in glass or metal lanterns along key streets.

• In the 1700s and early 1800s, gas lighting—burning manufactured gas in enclosed lamps—spread in London and other European cities, producing brighter and more reliable street light than oil.

First electric street lights

• The first practical electric street lights used powerful arc lamps and appeared in Paris in 1878 and in U.S. cities like Cleveland and Wabash around 1878–1880.

• These early electric systems were so bright they were often mounted on very tall towers to light whole districts at once, a dramatic change from the dim glow of gas lamps.

Incandescent era and beyond

• After Edison and other inventors commercialized incandescent bulbs around 1879, cities rapidly began replacing arc and gas lamps with smaller, safer electric fixtures along streets.

• Over the 20th century, street lights shifted through incandescent, fluorescent, mercury vapor, sodium, and now LED technology, improving efficiency and color while keeping the same basic goal: safer, more usable nights.

TL;DR:

• First organized street lights: lanterns in London, 1417.

• Widespread gas street lights: 18th–19th century Europe and U.S. cities.

• First electric street lights: late 1870s (Paris, Cleveland/Wabash).

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.