Taxicab (1899); Traffic Light (1920); The 400 (1889)

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TAXICAB

   Taxi!
   New York City's first experience was 1907, but we now have earlier.  OED
has 1907 for "taxicab" and October 1899 for "chauffeur."
   From the NEW YORK TIMES, 9 April 1899, pg. 10:

   _THE TAXICABS._
   One taxicab company, in spite of all the popular clamor for cheaper fares,
has raised its rates, sp that a ride of two miles, if the meter works
properly and the chauffeur is honest, will cost $1.30.  (...)  In spite of
all the old arguments about the shape of the island, the north and south runs
and the scarcity of "return fares," we are confident that a taxicab service
which the public would consider cheap could be established in New York. (...)
   It would be better for the companies to practice economies, to secure
honest chauffeurs, to guard against taximeter errors, than to raise the rate
of fares.  We have all been dreaming of the establishment of a cheap cab
system.  We still have nothing cheaper than a livery stable horse coupe.

   From the NEW YORK TIMES, 26 May 1907, pg. SM6:

_Is the Day of Cheap and Honest Cab Service at Hand?_
(...)  In London, where they have been in operation for some time, they are
now known as "taxicabs."

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TRAFFIC LIGHT

   This is for the OED's Jesse Sheidlower, who clearly has a long-suppressed
desire to be a Red Light Camera administrative law judge.
   From the NEW YORK TIMES, 15 March 1920, pg. 14:

      _THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS._
   New toys are always acceptable whether they are obviously intended for
children or ingeniously disguised so as not to offend the dignity of adults,
but it has been a long time since New York has had a toy with such infinite
possibilities as the traffic tower stations on Fifth Avenue.  The way the
public has taken up the new game of red, yellow and green lights must
assuredly have exceeded the fondest hopes of the inventor.  The idea of the
thing is quite simple and, what is more, it is thoroughly democratic.
Everybody has to play whether he likes it or not.  Pedestrians, trucks,
automobiles--they must all play the game of the lights. (...)

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THE 400

   Irving Lewis Allen's THE CITY IN SLANG: NEW YORK LIFE AND POPULAR SPEECH
(Oxford University Press, 1993 hardcover, but the 1995 paperback has my name
added) mentions this on page 222.   "The 400" (as in: there are only 400
interesting people in New York who can be invited to parties) is from a
remark made by Ward McAllister to a society reporter from the NEW YORK
TRIBUNE, on 25 March 1888.
   It looks like the NEW YORK TIMES picked it up a little late.

   17 March 1889, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 2:
   The 400, fresh from the successes of the Academy of Design costume ball
and preparing for the Washington centennial, are still finding time to do a
great deal of gossiping...

   30 March 1889, NEW YORK TIMES, pg. 4:
   _THE 400 AND THE 160._
(...)  In order to cull four hundred flowers of American civilization, you
begin by excluding Aldermen, and then proceed to the Legislature.