This three-story commercial building features a straightforward early twentieth-century industrial aesthetic with a brick facade and large window openings designed to maximize natural light for showroom and service functions. The corner location at Locust and Twentieth streets gives the structure prominent street presence, with its utilitarian form reflecting the practical needs of early automotive retail and maintenance operations.
The building at 2001 Locust Street was constructed in 1913 to serve as a showroom and service facility for the Detroit Electric Car Company, one of the leading manufacturers of electric automobiles during the early twentieth century. Detroit Electric, formally known as the Anderson Electric Car Company, established dealerships in major American cities during the peak years of electric vehicle popularity, roughly 1907 to 1920. The St. Louis location served a clientele that favored electric cars for their quiet operation, ease of use, and suitability for urban driving—qualities that made them particularly popular among wealthy women and physicians who needed reliable transportation for short city trips. Electric vehicles fell out of favor by the early 1920s as gasoline-powered cars became more affordable and easier to operate, with improved electric starters eliminating the dangerous hand-crank. The Detroit Electric brand struggled through the 1920s and 1930s before ceasing production entirely. Like many early automotive showrooms, the Locust Street building likely transitioned to other commercial uses as the electric car market collapsed, though the specific succession of tenants through the mid-twentieth century remains to be fully documented. The building stands today as a rare surviving example of St. Louis's early automotive retail landscape, representing a brief but significant chapter in transportation history when electric and gasoline vehicles competed for dominance on American streets.
