I've always been fascinated by the often-overlooked leftovers of the streetcar system, so the other day I checked out the old streetcar platform on the Kingshighway viaduct on the Hill. Although they are boarded up, one of them is easily accessible and I walked up the stairs and imagined what it must have been like to ride the streetcars to get around the city. There are also streetcar platforms at an underpass on Gravois, not far from Bevo Mill. I hope to go back to these locations with my camera and snap some pics. It's really amazing that these platforms and staircases haven't been removed. Here is a pic I took a couple years ago under the Kingshighway viaduct and the stairway to the platform is visible in the center of the picture:







I also love the "streetcar alley" on the West Side near Enright Ave, just north of Delmar. It was a designated streetcar corridor back in the day, and later a bus corridor (it may still be, I'm not sure). There's some great '70s-era Bi-State signage to be found along the route, and there's even an old boarded up streetcar shelter (I can't remember the cross street). I highly recommend taking a drive down the alley if you haven't seen it-- it's living history!!!



I know there are some old remaining shelters still scattered around the city, such as the one on Thurman Avenue near Cleveland Ave. on the South Side. Also, I believe the bus depot on Manchester in downtown Maplewood was a streetcar depot at one time (that one is still in use and looks oh-so retro!).



Are there any other notable remnants from the streetcar age?

At Thanksgiving Dinner yesterday, my dad told me he remembers streetcars running up Devonshire at Kingshighway. Now, this is a fairly narrow, non-commercial street. The streetcar system must have been much more extensive than I ever realized.

I read somewhere that St. Louis once had the most extensive streetcar system per capita of any city outside Paris. What happened?

From St. Louis' Comprehensive Transportation Plan 1947

Approximately 88 per cent of the total area of the city and 99 per cent of the total population is now served directly by streetcar lines or bus lines, i.e., being not more than one quarter mile walking distance therefrom.

While there was still an extensive streetcar system in 1947, it seems that is was slowly being converted to bus lines at this time.



City Limits Mass Transit Planning Map 1947 ---> Plate 24

Downtown Mass Transit Planning Map 1947 ---> Plate 26

In Kirkwood there was for years and years a bar called the Loop Lounge on Woodbine, just west of Geyer. That was where the streetcars used to turn around before heading back east. The loop is still there, but it's been paved over, of course. My grandmother used to take that streetcar downtown to go shopping at Vandevoort's.

wow...where is this?

This sign is awesome.

Oh my god, that is the shizznit.

I just drove through the Gravois Viaduct today near Bevo... I don't think that it is a streetcar stop here. I think it was a commuter rail stop, same with the Kingshighway stop. The tracks that cross Gravois here are the same ones that go under Kingshighway on the Hill... Imagine this scenario: Take the street car or bus to the Kingshighway stop and then make a connection onto the commuter rail to head out to south county... Or vice versa... In South County? Need to get to Forest park? Hop on the commuter rail, get off at the Kingshighway stop and take the streetcar North to Forest Park.... 'sigh', where'd it all go???



But it got me thinking: If the metrolink extension decides to go with this route, seeing as that is what the tracks were built for in the first place... maybe the Gravois and Kingshighway viaduct station could be reopened.



Streetview images below



http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll= ... 34,,0,-1.2



http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll= ... 6,,0,-2.34



http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll= ... 25,,0,5.12

As far as I know, there were never stations at either Gravois or Kingshighway. But I could be wrong. That line is part of the old St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railway, which was subsequently swallowed by Missouri Pacific which was swallowed by Union Pacific. It was used as a commuter line in the 1800', but the commuter traffic came from the Carondelet area.

Most of the old streetcar lines were paved over. When they redid Washington a few years back they had to pull them out.



The only place I can think of off hand is by the Old Schnucks on Cass near 11th. The overhead lines and tracks from the old Alton interurban were still there a few years ago.

When we recently redid our house on 19th, the sewer guys had to dig a new connection in the street and had to cut through a streetcar track that was buried under the asphalt. I kept the two-foot long section and think I'll use it for something fun. I'm just not sure what that will be yet.



Also, you can see part of the streetcar track peeking out of the asphalt on 19th just south of Branch. Rambling through another area of ONSL, I saw a railroad crossing sign where there is no longer a railroad. I'll try to find it again and grab a picture.

There are/were some poles right at 14th and Florissant that may or may not still be there after the construction of the new Crown Plaza strip mall. The Crown Square redevelopment had the same problem as BSever along St. Louis Ave while doing sewer and water connections last year. Repaving downtown and elsewhere has temporarily exposed tracks on many different streets, most notably along Olive.

bsever wrote:Cool map with a copyright of 1903 showing the streetcar/transit lines in the City:



http://www.usgwarchives.org/maps/usa/ha ... -louis.jpg



Pretty danged cool.

I wonder how they did all this in 1903 when it takes 30 million just to do a few blocks now.

^cheap immigrant labor + building on greenfields. You'd be amazed at how many utilites are there today that even utility companies don't know about.

Interesting... Inever thought there was a streetcar stop at gravois viaduckt.... The only unique thing I think is the entrances for what I believed to be walkway for pedestrian traffic to get from one end of the viaduct to the other- keeping people from walking across the tracks, etc.... 'couse i'm just a young'n and was born after the streetcars were pretty much done with...



The only use I really saw for them was a place for Bucket Joe and his pals to hang out.

...Wondering if 'thechariot' has any pics from breaking into these old passages....????

This thread makes me cry.

brickandmortar wrote:^cheap immigrant labor + building on greenfields. You'd be amazed at how many utilites are there today that even utility companies don't know about.

No OSHA, no FICA, no ADA, no unions, no enviromental impact studies, no worker's comp, no unemployment insurance, no health insurance, no 40 hour work week, no over-time pay, no pensions. I do like most of these things, but I often wonder how big an impact all this is on the cost of building infrastructure today when romanticizing about all the building of the past.