Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jan 2013 17:33:38 -0500, DerbyDad03
wrote:

I was traveling through Vermont this weekend and walked around the
pedestrian mall in downtown Burlington.

I've seen frames like that on very old sidewalks. I'm thinking they
went back about 100 years or so as they were in old sections of
Philadelphia where I lived the first half of my life.

This is just a side note, not related to the OP's question.

But, I spent the first 8 years of my life living in Philadelphia (Southwest,
near 56th and Springfield Ave), and I remember every evening someone would
come around with a small ladder and light the gas lights on the street.
That was before we got electric street lights on our street which was a big
deal. Also, my best friend's father delivered milk for Abbott's Dairy and I
remember it being a big deal when he got a regular truck -- he had a horse
drawn milk wagon before that. When I tell people that, they think I'm
crazy, but that's what I remember. Any chance you experienced any of the
same in the part of Phila where you lived?