St. Louis streetcar system map, 1897 wisconsin for instance

for instance

which built a single subway line in the 1920s

most of which was built pre-World War II

or at least try for it

with all of the angular lines that entails

St. Louis streetcar system map, 1897 wisconsin for instanceSt. Louis of 1897 was a Gilded Age industrial mess. The average person was working 60 hours a week for miserable wages, the city was overcrowded and polluted, the economy had been in a depression for four years, and unemployment was at 18 percent. In short, the city was a powder keg waiting to explode. These problems came to a head in 1899 when the St. Louis Transit Co. and its president, Edwards Whitaker, bought out most of the citys streetcar lines,