DID YOU KNOW: First Parking Meter Installed July 16, 1935

On this day (July 16) almost 80 years ago, the first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City, OK. The meter was installed at the corner of First Street and Robinson Avenue. A local attorney and newspaper editor, Carlton Cole Magee invented the “Park-O-Meter” after being voted in as the city’s Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Traffic Committee.

Magee’s purpose was to control parking in the downtown area and help generate revenue for the city. After business owners complained about their business suffering due to people’s cars being parked in the same spot all day, Magee along with H. G. Thueson and Gerald A. Hale created the first coin-operated meter. Thueson and Hale were professors at Oklahoma State University.

To date, there are over 13,000 commercial parking facilities throughout the U.S, which take in over $8 billion a year in parking fees.

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