Buzz·Posted on Nov 14, 2013Photos Of Pittsburgh's Air Pollution: 1940s Vs. TodayCoal fumes in the 1940s blotted out the sun. Gas lamps sometimes had to be lit during the day.by Kevin TangBuzzFeed StaffLinkFacebookPinterestTwitterMail 600 Liberty Avenue Monongahela Wharf Corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street Pittsburgh Train Station Corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues 8:38 AM Corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues Allegheny Courthouse Workers washing the smog-blackened exterior of Allegheny Courthouse Downtown This photo was taken at 12:10 PM Unidentified street in Pittsburgh Corner of Liberty and Fifth Avenues Wabash Bridge (now demolished) and unidentified Downtown church during midday Around the same time, St. Louis was also fighting to reduce air pollution Federal Building in St. Louis For more about pollution in that era, read about the Donora Smog, which killed 22 people and sickened more than 5,000 in 1948.