1908 Two Family Flat. (click picture to enlarge)
General Motors vs. The Streetcar Suburbs
From the 1890's until after World War II, all over America, more than 100 privately owned and operated streetcar companies ran cheap-to-ride, convenient, electrically powered urban transit. The streetcar lines fueled the growth of America's first suburbs, including Streetcar Suburbs in St Louis, MO, where the picture above was taken. In those days, suburb meant something different than the auto-dependent sprawl known today. Instead, the Streetcar Suburbs represented a more positive, more sustainable way of life.
Mixed-use neighborhoods sprang up within a 10-15 minute walk of the streetcar lines. Working class people mixed with middle class, owners mixed with renters, single homes mixed with multifamily residences, residential mixed with commercial use, above the storefronts along the car lines as well as in local shops, bars and restaurants on the corners in the neighborhoods. Busy pedestrian sidewalks connected everything. The streetcars sustained a style of life that endured for over a half century, through boom, bust, war and peace.
The history of these neighborhoods became very personal when the Left household recently made a contract to buy, for purposes of a sustainable, historical conservation and rehabilitation, the residence pictured above, in an historical Streetcar Suburb of St. Louis, MO. As noted in the national historic places registry for the District to which the residence contributes:
While the earliest buildings in the District date to c.1850, the vast majority of building occurred between the mid 1890s and the 1920s. This was the time frame of peak dependence on the St. Louis streetcar system. Indeed, the beginning of the boom in construction in the District corresponds with the arrival of the electric streetcar in the area. Roughly bounded by the streetcar corridors . . . the District was historically well-connected to this critical mode of transportation. The District is dominated by residential architecture and contains a mix of working and middle- (and upper-middle) class property types that range from humble, one-story shotgun houses and early homes that reflect Missouri German vernacular building traditions to large, high-style mansions such as might be found in some of the city’s wealthy private places.
By the 1950's, most of these streetcar neighborhoods still thrived in most American cities. Then a sudden change in circumstances derailed the Streetcar Suburbs.
It was a crime. Really.
Shortly after World War II, corporate bully, General Motors, ganged up with Standard Oil and Firestone in a criminal conspiracy to destroy the nation's private streetcar companies by buying them up and shutting them down. They were prosecuted by the Justice Department for it. A sympathetic jury acquitted the conspirators of trying to destroy the streetcar lines; it convicted them of trying to monopolize the sale of buses. Wrists were slapped all around.
Meanwhile, neighborhoods and businesses, that had been so long sustained by the streetcar lines, became collateral damage in the war waged by the titans of autos, tires and motor fuel. A ruthless act of predatory capitalism helped destroy a way of life, just to make a few extra bucks.
Come out into the tall grass for more discussion of the history of this house and its neighborhood, a glimpse at our plans for it and, at the end, a short photo diary.
The loss of the streetcars was just one factor in the decades of decline that came next for the Streetcar Suburbs. When color barriers in housing and pubic schools started to fall under Civil Rights decisions and enforcement, the former residents of the Streetcar Suburbs fled to the suburbs, The word, urban, acquired the meaning, black, to some. At the same time, suburban white folks with mortgages, cars and jobs downtown, wanted less congested highways. So, urban expressways cut giant scars through the historic inner neighborhoods. In the dismembered neighborhoods, storefronts became shuttered, corner shops closed up and the pedestrian throngs on the sidewalks trickled away. Once sturdy homes, built by high-end skilled craftsmen, fell into ruin. Urban Blight arrived in the Streetcar Suburbs.
Yet, sound, spacious, solid brick homes still filled these neighborhoods. Then, in 1976, Congress made historic preservation a national policy, using tax credits. States soon did likewise. By the 1980's stronger neighborhood associations were forming, code enforcement improved and homeowners and tenants began obtaining official recognition of the historical significance of the Streetcar Suburbs.
in 1999, in another stroke of luck for our particular Streetcar Suburb, The International Institute, moved to our new neighborhood. The Institute is a civic organization founded in 1919 to assist immigrants and refuges resettling in St.Louis.
The International Institute of St. Louis offers comprehensive adjustment services for refugees and immigrants in our community. In turn, these newcomers expand the richness of St. Louis’ diversity and help revitalize our economy.
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Contrary to many other metropolitan areas around the nation, St. Louis owes a significant portion of its growth in foreign-born populations to refugee resettlement, rather than to general immigration. These newcomers who have fled war-torn countries around the world benefit from top notch welcoming services, including English , Computer & Citizenship classes, job search & training, counseling and social work, refugee resettlement, technical assistance, micro-finance funds, translation and interpretation.
The International Institute relocated to the old Streetcar Suburbs because the area had become the "heart of St. Louis' growing new American community" Increasingly, Asian, Middle-Eastern, African and other immigrants and refuges found homes in the old neighborhoods. Meanwhile, younger people, raised in the sprawling suburbs, ached for diversity and a more sustainable lifestyle that the outer suburbs can't match; they moved in, fixing up homes and bidding up rents. Now, in our case, at least, older people are renovating homes for retirement and aging in place. Rents are rising again. Property values rise. Storefronts and corners have reopened.
The house we are purchasing sits within the 10 minute walk of two of the old streetcar routes. It was built and occupied in the height of the streetcar era. Just consider the fabulous bonus, coming from the neighborhood's diversity, found in the variety of international and American restaurants within walking distance of our front door:
Restaurants
Kitschy American retrodiner
Bakery and Sandwiches
Vietnamese (3 places)
Italian (3 places)
Thai (2 places)
Vegetarian and Vegan (2 places)
Moroccan
Persian
Chinese (2 places)
Barbeque
Sushi
Coffee House
Ice Cream (1 American; 1 Gelateria)
Hot Dogs
All of these are locally owned.
Shops
Dry Cleaner/Laundry
Bank (2 places)
Groceries (2 places)
U.S. Post Office
Martini Bars (2 places)
Public Library
Most of the restaurants have bars and some have live music. An innovative repertoire theater company thrives just blocks away. We will be 2 blocks from the city's second largest park. Increasingly both homes and businesses are emerging in thoughtfully restored and preserved historic raiment.
Then there is this house. Built in 1908 as a two family flat, the high-end craftsmanship of the builders shows in many of the surviving details.
Outside:
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And inside:
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We plan to convert to a single family interior as part of a sustainability rehab. Then we will live there, while we age in place, for as many years of our retirement as possible.
This is the fifth post about our search for the right house for our dream project. We had a flirtation with a craftsman bungalow, then ran off with a foursquare that got mugged before our first date, then had a brief affair with a mansard roofed Frenchie. But none of them meant anything, baby. Trust me, you are really the one!
Previous episodes of this adventure have been posted here, here, here and here.