Historical Gates (1920s)

My story takes place in the early 1920s. A woman travels to an estate which has a wrought iron gate at the end of it's (long) driveway. The estate is owned by an extremely wealthy man.

How would a gate like this be opened? Would there have been any automatic openers at that time (hydraulic, electric)? Would there have been a man whose job it was to wait and open the gate for people? Would the driver in the car get out to open the gate?

I've tried to search for this on Google but I'm not getting anything useful...could be that I'm just using the wrong search phrases.

ironmikezero said:

Much will depend on what your story needs. The location will matter as well. The scope of personal wealth in the 1920s could be vast. The extremely wealthy typically had permanent staff, often including security personnel. Gates would likely be manned. Electric-powered gates (i.e., chain driven) of elaborate design (and consequently heavy) were not unusual on large estates.

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It is in the countryside in Illinois! But yes, the man is extremely wealthy, so I'm thinking there would be a manned gate!

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waylander said:

Where is this set? In the UK it is very common (as stated above) for there to be gatehouses or lodges.

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It's going to be set in the US...Illinois to be exact!