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All the United States Illinois Chicago Wooden Block Alley

Wooden Block Alley

All of Chicago's wood-paved streets are long gone but two alleys remain.

Chicago, Illinois

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Wooden Alley   Jim Roberts / CC BY-SA 4.0
Wooden Alley   Jim Roberts / CC BY-SA 4.0
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July 2023   ccesare / Atlas Obscura User
The history of the wooden alley!   siennacaeryn / Atlas Obscura User
  Julius Spada / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Located between State and Astor street behind the mansion of the Archbishop of Chicago you will find the remains of wood block pavement.

In the 1850s wood block streets started to be used in Chicago. The pavement would have been constructed of four by five inch wooden blocks, filled in with gravel and sand and covered with coal tar. All of these combustible material meant that during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 the streets were literally burning  

This alley was preserved and restored in 2011 using either salvage or new blocks. The other wooden block alley at the 2100 block of North Hudson was paved over in the fall of 2018.

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Roads Woods Alleyways

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Runs between the State Parkway and Astor Street, behind the Cardinal's Mansion.

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Amy Weber

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ArtFille, jondavishome, notoriousFIG, tyler cole...

  • ArtFille
  • jondavishome
  • notoriousFIG
  • tyler cole
  • ccesare
  • hibbibi
  • Michelle Cassidy
  • siennacaeryn
  • Julius Spada

Published

January 18, 2016

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Sources
  • http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/wood-block-alleys/
  • http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2011/05/31/landmark-wooden-alley-gets-dug-up-in-the-gold-coast.php
  • http://blog.chicagohistory.org/index.php/2012/04/history-beneath-the-streets/
  • http://kaswell.com/about-us/history-of-woodblock/
  • http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2011/08/17/hidden-chicago-streets-alleys
Wooden Block Alley
Wooden Alley
runs between N. Astor St and N. State St, and between E. Burton Pl and E. North Blvd
Chicago, Illinois, 60610
United States
41.91031, -87.62771
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International Museum of Surgical Science

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