Oklahoma City Installed The World's First Parking Meter On This Day In 1935

Oklahoma City Installed The World's First Parking Meter On This Day In 1935

The Oklahoma City parking meter changed driving forever on July 16, 1935, when the world's first coin-operated parking meter was installed at the corner of First Street and Robinson Avenue.

The invention was designed to solve a growing problem in downtown Oklahoma City, where workers parked their cars all day, leaving shoppers with nowhere to stop. Nearly 91 years later, the Oklahoma City parking meter remains one of the city's most unusual claims to fame—and one of the inventions drivers still love to hate.

Oklahoma City Parking Meter Was Born Out Of Frustration

By the early 1930s, downtown Oklahoma City was booming thanks to the state's growing oil industry. More people meant more automobiles, and those automobiles created a parking nightmare.

Employees would arrive early, park along downtown streets and leave their vehicles there all day. Business owners complained customers couldn't find parking, costing stores valuable sales.

To solve the problem, local newspaper publisher and inventor Carl C. Magee developed a coin-operated parking timer originally nicknamed the "Black Maria."

On July 16, 1935, Oklahoma City installed the very first working unit, charging motorists five cents for anywhere from 15 to 60 minutes, depending on the location. The Oklahoma Historical Society documents the invention and its role in transportation history through its official archives at https://www.okhistory.org.

Drivers Didn't Exactly Welcome The Idea

The new Oklahoma City parking meter was almost immediately met with backlash.

Many drivers argued paying to park on a public street was nothing more than a new tax, while others challenged the system in court, claiming the meters were unconstitutional.

Some motorists protested by parking directly on the lines between two spaces to block multiple parking spots. Others reportedly cut parking meters off their poles, while some even hired teenagers to periodically move their vehicles just enough to avoid paying another nickel.

The controversy attracted national attention as cities across the country watched to see whether Oklahoma City's unusual experiment would survive.

Parking Meters Soon Spread Across America

Despite public complaints, local merchants quickly noticed something important.

Instead of the same vehicles occupying prime parking spaces all day, customers were coming and going more frequently, making it easier for shoppers to visit downtown businesses.

The city also generated new revenue through parking fees and citations, convincing other communities that the system worked. Within a short time, cities across the United States began installing their own parking meters based on Oklahoma City's design.

Today, the original Oklahoma City parking meter is remembered as one of the state's most influential inventions, proving that one small nickel-powered machine permanently changed how Americans park. Historical information about the invention and Carl C. Magee is also preserved through the Smithsonian Institution, which documents innovations that shaped everyday American life at https://www.si.edu.

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