ST. LOUIS — Cars either speed through downtown St. Louis' streets or sit congested on the surrounding interstates during rush hour.
Nearly 100 years ago, the city's streets were instead filled with trollies, double-decker buses and tons of pedestrians.
A historic photo shared by the Missouri History Museum is once again making the rounds online after a user on the St. Louis subreddit reposted it. The image was originally shared on a Metro "NextStop Blog" entry from 2013.
The image captures a congested intersection at Grand Avenue and Morgan Street, now known as Delmar Boulevard, from July 27, 1925. The left side of the photo shows the Missouri Theatre, where the Angads Arts Hotel now sits, while the New Masonic Temple is being built in the background on the right side.
"The photo, taken at 5:10 p.m., highlights what rush hour was like with streetcars and buses," the blog entry said. "The photo was taken around the time that Rogers Hornsby replaced Branch Rickey as manager of Cardinals."
Google Street View shows what that same intersection currently looks like:
Numerous users on the St. Louis subreddit commented on the post and spread nostalgia for a St. Louis now lost to time. Part of that nostalgia was fueled by the loss of public transportation.
"I hate that St Louis lost the streetcars," user STL_Jake-83 said. "I understand some but given the 70 bus is the busiest line in the city I would love to see a modern streetcar return like KC has down main."
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