Boom & Bust (1880s-1890s)

In the 1880s and 1890s, Ipswich was growing up. The business area had fewer residents and no-one was keeping cows in Limestone Street. The streets were still dirt but gas street lights had been installed. The town hall clock had an automatic gas light which didn't work very well and there were gas lights on the Blackall Fountain, which at that time was on the corner of Brisbane and Nicholas Streets. The fountain was used as a meeting place for election rallies.

Horse-drawn buses made transport easier and from 1899, you could use the telephone.