Take a second look at the traffic light to your left. Do you think we have the graphics backwards- the red light is always over the green!

Not always.

There is one traffic light in all the land where the green supercedes the red. To see it you would have to travel to the center of New York State, to Syracuse. There, in the neighborhood known as Tipperary Hill, a light hangs proudly over the corner of Tompkins Street and Milton Avenue- green over the red.

When the Erie canal was built from Albany, New York to Buffalo, New York the Irish were the chief laborers. Syracuse is about the middle of the route, the "hub" of the system. When the canal was finished many of the Irish settled west of Syracuse on a hill overlooking the canal. This area became known as "Tipperary Hill".

When the city first started to install traffic lights they put one at a major intersection on Tipperary Hill. The Irish, incensed that anyone would dare to put red (which to them represented the British) above green, smashed the light. The city replaced it. The Irish smashed the replacement and the cycle continued. Tired of replacing the light, the city fathers gave in to the "stonethrowers" and installed a light with the green on top.

The Irish, pleased with their victory, built a small park and erected a statue, dedicated to those brave sons of Ireland who had stood up to City Hall and won. The park and statue are still there and so is the light. Also, on the eve of every Saint Patrick's Day, someone (or ones) go out and paint the yellow strip in the center of the road green in time for the Saint Patrick's Day parade.