Chicago Alleys

By dsalinas4
  • 31 BCE

    Very Beginning of Alleys

    The Romans were the first to plan and construct alleys

  • Laying out Chicago

    The I&M Canal Commission hired James Thompson to layout Chicago at the eastern end of the canal in 1830. To attract prospective land buyers, Thompson included alleys in their plans.

  • Wood Block Pavement is invented

    Samuel Nicolson was the superintendent of Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation when he invented the process in 1848

  • Wood Block Pavement is brought to Chicago

    Nicolson's method to pave streets is brought to Chicago

  • First Communities without Alleys

    Divergence of the alley trend begins

  • Chicago now has 37 miles of wood block pavement

    Wood block paving was a way to solve the infrastructural problem of muddy streets

  • By the 1890s, Belgian Block paving is introduced

    Wood block paving wasn't exactly durable which is why Belgian block paving became popular

  • Alley Explosion

    By 1900, over 98 percent of the city's residential blocks had alleys

  • Theory on Alleys

    Around World War I, “modern” planning theory declared alleys wasteful and undesirable, and the last outer fringes of the city of Chicago, along with the vast majority of the suburban territory, were developed thereafter without alley

  • Alleys Continue

    Alleys have survived the new millennium largely intact and contribute hugely to the pulse of Chicago's daily life