Postcard of the Day No. 116, Observation Car, San Antonio, Texas

The world’s first commercial electric railway opened in 1881 at Lichterfelde in Berlin.  This marked the end of the era of horse drawn street trolleys and over the following 25 years electrically powered streetcars dominated the American streetscene. When this image was recorded in the early 1900s, San Antonio was a city of 53,000 - today’s population is 1.5 million.  Streetcar routes were instrumental in shaping the growing city and land values soared along all new routes. Car number 211 is an Observation vehicle operating a special service - possibly a sightseeing excursion or a trip to a sporting event. Formalities of dress have been conscientiously followed, the staff being especially well turned out. Hats are universally worn in the full glare of a Texas sun. Other than the Steampunk splendour of the ornate vehicle, two details stand out. One being the casual hand that rests on the shoulder of a colleague, the other being the louche air of the couple on the extreme left who show no interest in boarding the vehicle. Streetcars came to be regarded as troublingly slow, a hindrance to other road users and haunted by ‘unsavoury’ passengers. Views that were constantly amplified by Big Oil in a nationwide campaign to switch to diesel powered buses. When streetcars were retired from the city streets in 1933, San Antonio was the largest city in the US to be dependent on buses, presumably cleansed of ‘unsavoury’ elements.

 

Postcard of the Night No. 13 – Buffalo, Main Street at Night

We stay in the city of Buffalo for a nocturnal visit. Main Street at Night owes as much to the imagination of the artist as it does to the original photographer. Huddled pedestrians scuttle through the traffic as an incandescent streetcar advances through the gloom. An illuminated clock promoting watches beams its message from on high. More modest signs project over the pavement, including a perennial favourite – the sign that advertises “Signs”. In the other cards, the Electric Building lives up to its name with every window ablaze with light while a high-intensity searchlight radiates into the clouds. Finally the Statler Hotel appears in real danger of toppling over into Swan Street - the unremarkable surroundings de-glamourize the image.