Individual control of street lights (opposed to the old method of series strings) using all-in-one luminaires like this one became cutting-edge for street and roadway lighting commencing during 1949-1950. These General Electric fixtures (many of the first ones were installed in CT) were connected to the customer (120v) secondaries and were much safer compared to the inherent and very dangerous high open-circuit voltages of series systems. Multiple-operation fixtures with built in photocontrols really caught on by the later 1950s, providing improved safety and lower street lighting costs.