Front Street

This interesting photo is one of the few surviving scenes of Front Street (now Kanawha Blvd)  before the street was widened into 4 lanes as we know it today.   Taken in 1922, you're looking East from around Court Street and can see the new Union Building in the background.  All of the structures on the right side were perched on the riverbank side.

See a much larger photo HERE

If you were standing on what is now the South Side Expressway,  you would have seen the back side of these buildings.  People were known to toss their garbage into the river from many of these buildings,  and they became an eyesore and blocked the river view from the citizens.

One of the ways we can identify the year of the top photo,  is the movie posters on the right side.

"The Storm" played in 1922 at the Kearse

 

Top photo courtesy of David Marshall

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