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Origin
Wood pavement was known as Nicholson pavement -
Woodblock pavement
Woodblock pavement was created by Samuel Nicolson who was the superintendent of Boston and Roxbury Mill -
First Road
The first road lasted seven years before requiring replacement -
New streets
Nicholson’s method made it to Chicago in November 1856, when a segment of Wells Street close to the river was paved with white pine blocks -
How pavement Helped
Samuel Greeley, was enthusiastically in favor of Nicholson pavement, writing in an 1859 Tribune article: “Wooden pavement…might have great advantages in a city, where suitable stone was scarce, where lumber was the great staple of the market, and where the foundation was new and yielding -
1890
During this period, more durable and cost-efficient pavement methods like Macadam and Stone blocks came into use. Most notably, wood pavement was largely replaced by the Belgian blocks that in some places have lasted to this day. -
1900
By the 1890s, wood pavement was considered by many to be an anachronistic failure -
1913
1913 development competition in the suburbs of Chicago yielded almost no designs with alleys; instead, the proposals featured blocks with interior courtyards. -
2006
IN 2006, Chicago became one of the first cities in the country to conduct a “green alley” program, -
Alleys now
Chicago has more than 4,000 miles of streets that serve motorists, buses, cyclists and pedestrians, and 1,900 miles of alleys,