Read more at our website. Follow the link in the COMMENT section…
January 27, 1897 – Iowa City businessman – Michael McInnerny – writes an impassioned editorial to The Iowa State Press, calling for the city to pave over the muddy roads that lead to Iowa City’s two cemeteries: St. Joseph’s and Oakland Cemeteries.
Prior to the late summer of 1895, Iowa Citians, very often, found themselves stuck in the mud as they attempted to travel the streets of our fair community. You see, for nearly 60 years of Iowa City’s early history (1840-1900), all of our streets – including the main thoroughfares like Clinton Street, Iowa Avenue, and Dubuque Street – were dirt roads, with maybe a bit of crushed rock on top – if you were lucky. But, all that began to change with the eight-city-block brick-paving project of 1895 – beginning with Clinton Street across from Old Capitol.
This Day In History is an Our Iowa Heritage blog series that offers you a little bit of Iowa trivia from a large selection of stories on our website. Subscribe to this FREE blog and you’ll get a new email from us daily. Click to learn more.
Pingback: January 26, 1928. | Our Iowa Heritage
It’s possible I mentioned this before. (I don’t keep track of things
Ike that). In the ‘30s, while I was living at 906 E College, there was a big repaving project on Burlington St, just one block south. The bricks were being laid over a concrete base, a technique mentioned in your article. College St was also brick at that time, and I remember the rumbling sound when riding in a car driving over it. Later, after I had moved, I often rode my bicycle over those same bricks when I went to visit my grandmother.
LOVE this story David. I miss those brick streets, for sure! BUT GREAT MEMORIES!