Once often spotted in various cities spread throughout America, streetcars played a crucial role in helping mold urban transportation as a whole during the late 19th and 20th centuries. These trolleys were electric-powered and connected to wildly busy downtowns with booming suburbs. They served the ultimate purpose of offering a consistent way to travel before automobiles went and took over completely. We’ll look at some of the rarest vintage photos of America’s streetcars.
1. Streetcar early 1940’s.
Guy is rocking quite the fit too.
2. Streetcar, Pittsburgh, PA, 1968.
The colorized vintage photos are really where it’s at.
3. Downtown Atlanta streetcars in 1935.
A busy, bustling day about downtown.
4. A mother helps her child onto a Broadway streetcar in New York City, July, 1913.
What an iconic shot.
5. Streetcar on State Street, Chicago. 1951.
It almost feels like you’re there.
6. This image shows the transition from Trolley service to bus service. Chicago, 1948.
And what a marked transition that was.
7. Waiting to ride the West Michigan Avenue streetcar, Indianapolis, 1927.
Those lines could really test your willpower.
8. June 2, 1914. Disembarking a streetcar at Broadway and 242nd Street in the Bronx. New York City.
Don’t get lost in the crowd.
9. Los Angeles, 1954
That blue car is something special.
10. Passengers exiting streetcars at Navin Field, Detroit for Game 6 of the 1934 World Series.
Taking a streetcar to a ball game back in the day must’ve been something magical.
11. West 10th Street streetcar on Illinois Street in Washington DC, in 1927.
Everyone’s just carrying along on their merry way.
12. Honolulu street car, circa April 1905.
This looks like a whole lot of fun.
13. Streetcars in Ottowa (1955).
The Ottowa streetcars had themselves quite the aesthetic.
14. Baltimore Streetcars along with autos and milk delivery trucks.
Not the throwback milk trucks too.
15. Clinging to a full streetcar in Brazil (1940s).
Not the kind of situation you want to fall off in.
16. Streetcar Terminal, Oklahoma City, 1939.
Everyone seems so patient whilst waiting.
17. A streetcar operator, Paris, France, 1930s.
What a stud.
18. July 1941. Work on streetcar tracks, Fourteenth and G Streets N.W., Washington, D.C.
Those were long working hours, indeed.
19. Clean Up Rubbish notice on 4th and Madison Avenue streetcar, New York. October 1914.
The stache really ties the whole photo together nicely.
20. Talk about a crowd.
Now this is a crowd.
