The street light circuit that operated this arc light (barely visible...) is seen on the left. Often these fixtures were mounted on a horizontal "boom" or "mast arm" from its wooden pole. In these instances there was a winch at around eye-level on the pole that allowed the lineman to lower the fixture to ground-level for maintenance. When arc lights were gradulally replaced by more energy-efficient incandescent (tungsten) street lights commencing in the teens, often the same luminaire was retained with a provision for a socket for the incandescent light bulb.

A nice openwire phone line is also seen along the right ;-)