So what else took hold but ended up being a bad idea?

We live in this neighborhood that was developed from 1965 - 1990ish. The heart of the neighborhood went up in the early to mid 80's. I'm willing to bet they were very nice houses back then...we have several Doctors and Lawyers nearing retirement age, most have swimming pools, about 2500 square feet, circular drives...you get the picture.

Although I get to the gym about once or twice each week, I'm much more a walk/run the neighborhood guy. Our neighborhood is great for it, and it's just too convenient compared to all the baggage that comes with going to the gym (you know...sweaty car, fight for equipment, drive time, constantly beating back chicks (ok, maybe that one's not an issue for me)).

So, one thing I noticed in my neighborhood is that for a while - probably between 1975 - 1980 - "garbage can pits" were the rage. There are probably no less than 30 homes with said pits out by the street. Mind you, they are all filled with concrete now, but when initially conceved, you would leave your garbage cans, metal at the time, in the pit...taking your trash to the street, dropping said trash in the can, deep in this pit.

Now, seeing all of them filled in, I can immediately assume this experiment failed. So, like scientists finding a dinosaur bone and looking around and seeing no dinosaurs, and trying to create hypothesis' for why they are gone...I'll attempt to do the same thing with the extinction of the garbage can pit:
1. What do you do when it rains...where does standing water go?
2. Easier access for garbage picking varments
3. Domicile for undesirable varments (snakes, rats, etc.)
4. Is going to the street every day really that much easier than going to the garage every day and going to the street twice a week?

Knowing that there are probably many more reasons we could come up with...it bodes the question...why the garbage can pit in the first place? Clearly we can only surmise, it was a bad idea, that someone thought was good...for a while.

SO, what other bad ideas took hold for a while only to be deemed really dumb (filled in with concrete)?

(Note: Advances in technology don't count as bad ideas. For example, the 8-track would seem to be a bad idea...but was really the pioneer of getting music of your choice in your vehicle.)