Cycles

On Fridays in particular (for no reason that I know of), I like to look through the Minnesota Historical Society's Online Photo Collection and see what I can find. It's interesting to see the ways that Minneapolis and St. Paul have aged – sometimes staying remarkably the same, and sometimes losing all trace of the past.

I searched for street cars and was looking through the images. The cars themselves are interesting - the interiors, with their ornate cushions reminding us of how utilitarian our world has become while at the same time reminding us that some things, like overhead advertising, don't change all that much in a century. But what is most interesting are the environments the cars are in. There are a few shots of Minneapolis from 1910 and 1923 that remind me how much really has changed. I've walked, driven and ridden my bike by both of these intersections and any trace of what was once there is all but gone now.

Some days I wonder what it will be like when the landmarks of our youth are razed in the name of progress, and the collective memory of our generation slowly drifts into the backwaters of time.