St. Louis streetcar system map, 1897

St. 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 city’s streetcar lines, consolidating all but the St. Louis & Suburban under his control.  Once his near-monopoly was secure, Whitaker unilaterally cut pay and increased workers' hours.  When the workers complained, he fired his entire workforce, leading to a summer-long strike and boycott.

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