When Matthew McConaughey drawls “Party at the Moon Tower!” during Richard Linklater’s classic film “Dazed and Confused,” he’s referring to an Austin institution that’s entirely unique to this part of the country (and, in fact, to this part of the world). These fifteen illuminating structures are the only operational moon towers still left on Earth, and if you’re in search of an only-in-Austin sight, you won’t want to miss them.

What are The Moonlight Towers?

First erected in 1895, Austin’s Moonlight Towers are examples of a popular method of providing street illumination during the 19th and 20th centuries. Instead of street lamps lining the streets, a moonlight tower could project illumination across several blocks at once.

Austin city officials purchased 31 towers from the city of Detroit, while generators connected to the Tom Miller Dam (then called the Austin Dam) in the Colorado River provided the necessary power to get them working. 

Fifteen towers remain in use today, standing at 165 feet and casting a light radius of 1,500 feet each. The towers originally used carbon-arc lamps, but because these required daily wick-trimming maintenance, the city switched them out for incandescent lamps in the 1920s. In the 1930s, Austin changed the lamps once again, this time going for more energy-efficient mercury vapor lamps, which are still in use today. 

Why were the Moonlight Towers built?

Courtesy of Shorpy

Austin’s Moonlight Towers were first erected during a time when many American cities used similar structures to light their streets at night. While the city may have merely decided to follow the trend, some historians have suggested that Austin built the Moonlight Towers as a reaction to a string of murders connected to the Servant Girl Annihilator, a serial killer who terrorized Austin during the 1880s. Nearly a decade elapsed between the Servant Girl Annihilator’s spree and the installation of the Moonlight Towers, but the possibility remains that the towers were put in Austin as a cautionary measure to protect citizens from similar attacks.

Where Are The Moonlight Towers?

Courtesy of Austin Energy

Of the 31 original towers, 15 still remain, scattered throughout Downtown Austin. They can be found at:

  • The northeast corner of Leland St. and Eastside Drive
  • The southwest corner of Monroe St. and South 1st St.
  • The southeast corner of West 9th St. and Guadalupe St.
  • The southeast corner of West 12th St. and Blanco St.
  • The northwest corner of West 12th St. and Rio Grande St.
  • The southwest corner of West 15th St. and San Antonio St.
  • The southwest corner of West 22nd St. and Nueces St.
  • The southwest corner of West 41st St. and Speedway St.
  • Zilker Park (this is the tower featured in Dazed and Confused)
  • The southeast corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Chicon St.
  • The northeast corner of East 13th St. and Coleto St.
  • The northeast corner of Pennsylvania Ave. and Leona St.
  • The southeast corner of East 11th St. and Trinity St.
  • The southwest corner of East 11th St. and Lydia St.
  • The northeast corner of Canterbury St. and Lynn St.