By ChiTownView
“I was strolling up State Parkway on Chicago’s Near North Side. After stopping to pay my respects at the former Playboy Mansion, I was heading up to some Louis Sullivan-designed row houses. As I approached North Avenue, a sign caught my eye. It said ‘Wooden Alley.’ Ah-ha, this was something I had heard about; this was the last alley in Chicago that was still paved with wooden blocks.
“For the most part, these aren’t the original blocks but new ones installed a few years back before it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. There is a small section just off State where the remaining original blocks were placed.
“The price for paving the alley in 1909 was just a little over three thousand dollars. For repaving the alley the cost was around four hundred thousand dollars. To find out more about wooden paving and a group of ‘blockheads’ effort to restore this alley follow this link.”
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Posted on May 17, 2013