SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing. You look better here. : downtown district

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$SmugMug > keywords > downtown district > Washington, GA (Wilkes County) 2007 In the1850s, sidewalk vault lights became a common feature in American commercial districts. Cast-iron panels were fitted with clear glass lenses and set into the sidewalk in front of the stores. Their purpose was to let daylight into the dark basements (or “vaults”) that extended out beneath the sidewalks, thus creating more usable space. At first, simple glass lenses were set in the panels, usually with a cement grout. Later on, prismatic glass was used which refracted the sun’s rays further into basement areas, and the vault lights became very popular during the 1930s.$