 
Tiberius
Member
Username: Tiberius
Post Number: 6
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 11:12 am: |    |
I was in the outskirts of the new center area the other day and noticed an alley that was bricked (instead of paving). I wonder, was that the practice way back then and are there a lot of bricked alley's? |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 1111
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 11:43 am: | |
Yes. In old maps, you'll find that there was a wide variety in the surfaces of old Detroit's streets. Cobblestones were not as prized as brick. Brick wasn't as good as cedar. In the days of horse-drawn carts, it made quite a difference what the surface was.
Detroit was also the first U.S. city to have a mile of concrete road. |
Ray1936
Member
Username: Ray1936
Post Number: 1571
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 12:06 pm: | |
Speaking of which.....on my Detroit visit this month, I drove down Michigan Avenue past the old ballpark. That brickwork on Michigan Avenue has become just horrid. Time to pave 'er over, I say. |
Rjlj
Member
Username: Rjlj
Post Number: 354
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 12:25 pm: | |
No, keep the brick on Michigan, just remove the asphalt. We have too much concrete and black top in Michigan. |
Mdoyle
Member
Username: Mdoyle
Post Number: 117
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 12:29 pm: | |
The asphalt is covering the rusty old streetcar tracks that are just below the surface on the brick stretch of Michigan ave. At the overpass just before downtown theres a good sized chunk of rusty rail poking through the asphalt. Id like to see michigan ave redone as they did Gratiot. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 1113
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 12:30 pm: | |
Also, some alleys seem to have no paving whatsoever. Mine is concrete slab, much like I had when I was 5. |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 1114
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 12:31 pm: | |
RE: The brick in front of Tiger Stadium. It's actually better if you just stay right and drive on the brick. That asphalt is the problem. The brick's still pretty even. I only drive on the asphalt when turning left. |
Charlottepaul
Member
Username: Charlottepaul
Post Number: 1224
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 1:50 pm: | |
Tiberius, if you haven't ever walked through Indian Village, there are some great and open brick alleys in that neighborhood. |
Sknutson
Member
Username: Sknutson
Post Number: 895
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 3:06 pm: | |
I like alley's that are paved with brick's. Alley's that are paved with cobblestone's are nice too.
I just wish all of our street's and road's and highway's were well paved. |
Korridorkid
Member
Username: Korridorkid
Post Number: 89
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 6:38 pm: | |
The alleys near Old Main in Midtown, commonly used for Dally in The Alley are also still paved with bricks. In the center of the street you can notice the one row of two paralell bricks or "vertical bricks".
The alley is graded to the center in order to funnel rainwater and most particularly, horse urine, away from the main surface and into the sewers.
I've often heard but cannot, alas, prove that many of the still standing apartment buildings in the area (Forest Arms, The Renaud, etc.) contain the old paving bricks from when the paved Woodward around the turn of the 20th century. You can notice the dramatic change in brick type about 4 feet from the ground.
I'm not sure if thats accurate or not but nice adaptive reuse nonetheless. |
Neilr
Member
Username: Neilr
Post Number: 532
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 10:07 pm: | |
As a tangent to this thread:
quote:I've often heard but cannot, alas, prove that many of the still standing apartment buildings in the area (Forest Arms, The Renaud, etc.) contain the old paving bricks from when the paved Woodward around the turn of the 20th century.
The Varney was the oldest apartment building in Detroit. It was located on Park, near the Blenheim. It was constructed of stones that were used as ballast on ships that came over from Scotland. The Varney was demolished perhaps 20 years ago. |
Tiberius
Member
Username: Tiberius
Post Number: 10
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2007 - 8:50 pm: | |
The bricked alley I found was a block south of Henry Ford's place on Piquette near St. Aubin. They seem to last longer than any of the more modern materials , no? |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4615
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2007 - 8:56 pm: | |
How long did Cedar roads last? I mean, didnt it rot away after a few years or was it sealed with a tar? |
Bob_cosgrove
Member
Username: Bob_cosgrove
Post Number: 555
Registered: 03-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2007 - 10:03 pm: | |
Cedar Blocks were used on City Streets to reduce the noise of steel or iron rimmed Carriage wheels. They were probably more expensive to install than brick involving much hand labor. So only the most affluent neighorhoods like Indian Village had them.
In Indian Village Seminole, Iroquois and Burns avenues from East Jefferson, which was brick, to St. Paul were cedar block installed in 1895. These Cedar block streets may have been installed by the Cook Farm Company Ltd., who platted and devleoped Indian Village.
Most cedar block paving was approx. 6x8x8 inch cedar cubes fitted closely and secured with tar.
The Detroit Historical Museum Streets of Old Detroit has a section of what they call cedar paving, but these are cut off ends of a cedar tree surrounded by asphalt.
In Toledo, where I grew up, there was cedar block paving on the Old West End side streets running north from Monroe Street across from The Toledo Public Library. With age they dried out, and occassionally in a severe rain storm, many would float out of their setting and had to be put back in.
Bob Cosgrove |
Dougw
Member
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 1776
Registered: 11-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2007 - 1:44 pm: | |
Here's a bricked alley in Indian Village. This one had some unfortunate patching done several weeks ago by AT&T subcontractors... we're attempting to get them to put the bricks back that were taken out.
|
Quinn
Member
Username: Quinn
Post Number: 1390
Registered: 01-2005
| | Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2007 - 2:39 pm: | |
Our alley is bricked and really pretty.
According to a street map circa 1900 at the historical museum, or original street was cedar rings while the alley was brick. Amazing. |
Gistok
Member
Username: Gistok
Post Number: 4725
Registered: 08-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 12:25 am: | |
Just out of curiosity... in Tiberius's original post, is the brick alley you are talking about north of New Center? I was wondering if when GM spent millions on New Center Commons back in the 1990's, did they brick their alleys when they were fixing up the neighborhood?
Or are we only talking about really old bricked alleys.
Just a thought... |
Tiberius
Member
Username: Tiberius
Post Number: 12
Registered: 06-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 10:35 am: | |
The bricked alley I found was obscure and very old. Just south of Henry Ford's place on Piquette and St Aubin. I guess that's midtown rather than New Center? |
Detroitnerd
Member
Username: Detroitnerd
Post Number: 1132
Registered: 07-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 1:42 pm: | |
^^Milwaukee Junction |