Transportation Cycle

Transportation Cycle in Old North St. Louis

By: Megan Gebke

The original street patterns of Old North are laid out like any other neighborhood along a river: perpendicular to it. This pattern normally works, but as the Mississippi River hits the neighborhood it curves causing the roads to meet at angles creating triangular plots. The original street system oriented the town to the river whereas the newer forms of public transportation oriented the neighborhood to the downtown district and other city neighborhoods. 

Over the years, several types of transportation have been used to transport the residents to reach other parts of the city. The first system was called the omnibus line, which was like a long stagecoach. It took riders around the city. Although the ride was bumpy from the unpaved streets, the passengers did get to choose when they wanted to stop by tugging a cord attached to the driver’s ankle. When the streetcar was introduced in 1859, the residents loved it more that the omnibus. The streetcars were first pulled by horses and then later by cables. The riders glided along the tracks until they have reached their destination. By the late 1800s, residents could easily reach jobs in the heart of downtown or take the rail lines north out of the city to enjoy the Fairgrounds Park or Bellefontaine Cemetery.

The last streetcar line built in the neighborhood was the St. Louis Electric Railway interurban line of the Illinois Terminal Railroad System. Since most residents did not own a car, streetcars and buses were the main transportation. To construct the elevated platform, maintenance lines, and other needed facilities, homes had to be bought out by the railroad and torn down to make way. Because of families being pushed out of their homes, the local school was shut down. People protested, but for the good of the city, these families had to make the sacrifice. This section of the neighborhood never recovered from the drastic changes that took place so that the railway line could take place.

By the 1930s and 1940s, cities were putting most of their time and money into city streets. The streetcar line in the neighborhood was shut down and people rode the buses in the street. Buses traveled further from the city than any other transportation before. Residents could find employment further from the city and still have a way to get to work. This also contributed to the sprawl of the metropolitan area by encouraging people to spread out beyond the city. In my opinion, it had something to do with people moving out of the Old North neighborhood and settling further away in what would be called suburban areas. Today, there are still a few bus stops that connect you to the Metro-link, but not as many as before. I plan to solve this problem and want the residents to have better access to the public transportation offered by the city.

With the booming era of the automobile, it led to a big problem: traffic congestion. The streets need improvements. Before long, Old North was almost completely surrounded by major highways. For the white families, it seemed like a better option to buy a single-family dwelling in the suburbs rather than rent in Old North. Black families, however, never had that option due to the fact it was foreclosed by real-estate brokers who followed prejudice guidelines about who should and should not live there. To draw people back in, they thought expressways and parking lots would be a solution. A new proposal of Mark Twain Expressway landed right in the center of Old North, causing it to be split into two entities. Highways and the automobile caused a lot of problems for this neighborhood. They fought the last proposal and ended up winning. The neighborhood is surrounded by major expressways that leave the never almost by itself with no connection to anything.