Pictures from the late 1800’s of American cities often show very wide streets. I have always assumed parking horses with wagons were responsible. How have the standards, best practices or zoning on street width changed over the 3 centuries in America?

by rethinkingat59

rethinkingat59

What confuses me is average streets in Europe that are much older usually did not provide nearly as much room for horse and wagon traffic. I assume newer cities were planned with grids while older cities grew naturally, but still the difference is often significant.