Garrett Augustus Morgan, Sr. was born in Paris Kentucky in March 1877 to Sydney Morgan, a son and freed slave of Confederate General John H. Morgan of Morgan’s Raiders, and Elizabeth Reed, a freed slave and daughter of Rev. Garrett Reed. Morgan was the seventh of eleven children, and only received a sixth grade education. He worked with his brothers and sisters on the family farm, then left Kentucky for Cincinnati in search of work.
Morgan spent most of his adolescence working as a handyman for a wealthy Cincinnati landowner. He hired a tutor and continued his studies in English grammar while living in Cincinnati.
In 1895, Morgan moved to Cleveland and worked as a sewing machine repair man for a clothing manufacturer. He experimented with gadgets and materials to discover better ways of performing his trade, developing a passion for tinkering. He developed a reputation for repairs that led to numerous job opportunities throughout Cleveland.
Morgan opened his own sewing and repair shop in 1907, one of many businesses he would start. He next opened a tailoring business, taking on 32 employees. The new enterprise made coats, suits, and dresses, all sewn on equipment Morgan had built.
In 1920, Morgan started the Cleveland Call newspaper, and continued on to become a prosperous and widely respected businessman. Eventually he purchased a home and an automobile.
Upon witnessing the collision between the automobile and the carriage, Morgan developed a three-position traffic signal. He applied for and was granted U.S. Patent No. 1,475,024. Later, Morgan obtained patents on the technology in Great Britain and Canada.
The Morgan traffic signal was a T-shaped pole unit featuring three positions: Stop, Go, and All-Directional Stop. The third position halted traffic in directions before it allowed travel to resume on one of an intersection’s perpendicular roads. The All-Directional Stop made passing through an intersection safer for motorists and pedestrians.
At night, and other times that traffic was minimal, the traffic signal could be positioned in half-mast, alerting approaching motorists to proceed through the intersection with caution. The half-mast position had the same signaling effect that has become common in flashing red and yellow lights of modern traffic signals.
Morgan’s traffic management technology was used throughout North America until it was replaced by the red, yellow, and green light traffic signals used globally. Morgan sold the rights to the traffic signal to General Electric for $40,000.
Before Morgan’s death, he was awarded a citation for the traffic signal by the U.S. Government. The Federal Highway Administration has honored Morgan’s contributions through programs like the Garrett A. Morgan Transportation Technology Education Program, which helps K-12 students in STEM become “tomorrow’s transportation professionals.”
In 1912, Morgan received a patent for a Safety Hood and Smoke Protector, which was an early version of a gas mask. Two years later, a refined model won a gold medal from the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
On July 25, 1916, Morgan used his gas mask to rescue several men trapped in an explosion in an underground tunnel beneath Lake Erie. Following the rescue, which made national news, Morgan’s company was bombarded with requests from fire departments nationwide that wished to purchase the new lifesaving masks. The gas mask was refined and used by U.S. soldiers during World War I.