Old parking meters cash out

Auction of 48 machines brings in last bits of cash for items once common in Troy

Parking meters once were ubiquitous downtown, demanding to be fed a quarter an hour to park.

They were removed more than a generation ago — their heirs are blue computerized parking kiosks — and recently 48 of the now historic coin-fed mechanical meters were auctioned.

“There was one for every parking space,” said Kathy Sheehan, historian for the city of Troy and Rensselaer County based at the Hart-cluett Museum. She estimated they numbered in the hundreds and were removed around 1987 when free parking was considered a draw to get shoppers and visitors downtown.

The old meters are gone, but they provided one last payout for the city when they were auctioned at the end of September. The city sold the four doz

en meters, including some in their original wrappings, through Collar City Auctions Realty and Management.

They sold for a combined $1,292.50, or an average price of $26.93.

It’s been 85 years since the first 150 parking meters debuted on Oklahoma City streets on July 16, 1935. POM, Inc. of Russellville Arkansas, is the descendant of the first parking meter manufacturer. It produced Troy’s coin meters and is still churning out meters that accept coins and credit cards.

Parking meters are part of American culture. The Hart-cluett Museum at 57 Second St. has one in its collection. A visit to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History website brings up information on parking meters in its collection. Vintage meters can be found for sale on ebay, in stores and at auction sites.

Troy's meters were marked to be fed 25 cents per hour with a two-hour maximum. Shake them, and you could hear the quarters rattling inside the coin box.

The current city parking rate is $1 per hour with a maximum of four hours.

The old meters were being stored in the public works garage on Seventh Avenue with other unused equipment and street signs.

The city will make sure to empty quarters out of the meters before they are delivered, Deputy Mayor Monica Kurzejeski said.

Lori Van Buren / Times Union An auction of four dozen coin-operated Troy parking meters, last used in the 1980s, brought in about $1,300, or about $27 apiece.

Lori Van Buren / Times Union Troy city official John Salka looks at some of the obsolete old coin-fed street parking meters recently auctioned.

Lori Van Buren / Times Union Boxes of old coin-fed street parking meters were recently sold and will soon make their way to their new owners.