Ep. 111: Streetcar Suburbs

Prior to the rise of the automobile, streetcars were the dominant form of transportation in American cities from roughly 1900 to 1930. Realizing their economic potential, developers began building new master-planned communities along streetcar lines now known as “streetcar suburbs.” Featuring grid plans, mixed use development, and multimodal transportation, streetcar suburbs remain some of the most desirable places to live in the United States today. So why don’t we build more of them?   On this week’s episode of Silent Generation, Nathan and Sebastien begin by noting that many streetcar suburbs were once serviced by earlier forms of mass transit like horsecars and cable cars. They then discuss the common features of streetcar suburbs before suggesting that the last true “extant streetcar suburbs” can be found in Philadelphia and Boston. Shifting to “former streetcar suburbs,” they then explain why Los Angeles is the “streetcar suburb capital of America” and why Chicago’s streetcar suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park are overwhelmingly liberal. The episode concludes with a discussion about streetcars and transit-oriented development in the present day.    Links: Suburbs: A Very Short Introduction by Carl Abbott Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States by Kenneth T. Jackson The Earliest Roots of the Suburban Experiment by Daniel Herriges The Fascinating Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Streetcar Suburbs by Emma Newcombe Suburban Streetcar Desire by Tina Trenkner In Praise of Streetcar Suburbs by Pete Saunders A Look Back at Chicago's Streetcar Era by Erica Gunderson Why Did Chicago Stop Growing? By Edward McClelland Welcome to Evanston, where woke never died Railroad Suburbs: A Model For Suburban Redevelopment by Pete Saunders Suburbs that don't Suck - Streetcar Suburbs - Not Just Bikes  Why Chicago Suburbs Feel Like Cities - Architales Segregation by Design - Philadeplhia In Search of Walkable L.A.: How Defunct Electric Railways Could be Southern California's Salvation - Citynerd Episode 37: Kennywood  What Happened to Streetcar Suburbs? by George Dillard   Artwork: By railfan 44 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/129679309@N05/26740034096/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54436537   Recorded on 7/3/2026