That’s some old ce-ment
I Google-mapped Duluth East High School today for various reasons and found that the corner of E. Eighth St. and N. 26th Ave. E. is “Minnesota’s oldest concrete pavement.”
Is that the cobblestone-y stuff back there, and is it seriously the oldest?
Minnesota’s Oldest Concrete Pavement – Minnesota Historical Markers on Waymarking.com
Hah, I love the little park with the benches, so you can sit and rest while viewing the majestic cement.
If you look close in that neighborhood you perhaps can still see the steel rim around the corners of the curbs (at intersections). This was to protect the curb from wagon wheels that had a steel rim around them. If the wagon cut the corner and caught the curb it would wreck the cement so metal rims were put on them (the curbs). They were still there when I lived in the hood 10-12 years ago. Yes, very old indeed.
I love that neighborhood. The park there is named in honor of the old “granitoid” streets around it, I believe.
Yes, oldest–and when they pulled it up from the streets over there a few years back, it was still in better shape than many Duluth streets paved in the last 10 years. The only reason such concrete isn’t used now is that it has a larger up-front cost to be put in, but in the long-term “granitoid” stands up to a lot longer use in our environment.
Local historic preservation advocates can fill your ears full on this one…
Driving — even ever so slowly — over it is a jarring experience.
I live along Woodland Ave not too far from this site. The city replaced my sidewalk last year and charged me many thousands of dollars in assessments, and also used many more thousands of your collective tax money to complete the task. This year it is pitted and cracking. Within three years at this rate it will be junk.
Too bad that “they don’t make ’em like they used to.”
B-Man, you wouldn’t want your assessment going toward a granitoid treatment, if they are even made any more. This is quite a bumpy street by today’s standards. But I admire the neighbors who banded together too keep the street with it’s original pavement. It’s wonderful when our heritage is preserved.
They banded together to keep speeds down in their neighborhood. Don’t kid yourself.
I live on 7th and would gladly pay the assessment to have a street like 6th. Until my kids develop some confidence on their bikes, we have to have an “outing” down to Holy Rosary parking lot in order for them to practice. In addition to the road being unusable for road skates, skateboards or bike training, there are no level adjacent sections of sidewalk. Yes – using a section of sidewalk for a teetortodder amuses the toddlers, but very difficult to maintain in the winter. You are correct – we don’t have a lot of speeders or through traffic. I’ll even avoid driving on it as much as possible, often taking the “long way” home.
I want the facts. How old is it?
Oh, read the picture. Doy. 101/2 years. Where was the Pomp and Circumstance on the centennial like the Lift Bridge received? I feel sad for you concrete street. If only you had been cobblestoned.
The jarring is because the granitoid was made with “washboard” grooves to help horses gain footing. So, like the curbs, not really for a rubber tire. Just one more piece of history that makes Duluth such a unique place to live.
Wow. Oddly, concretely, this is pretty cool. Anyone know why Duluth was the site of the first concrete streets in the state? Or, if that’s evet true. The marker from 1959 reads this is the first concrete street in Minnesota. I wonder if it’s truly the first or the oldest remaining.
Shout out to whoever is DJ on KUMD 10:50 Tuesday night.
I’m guessing that we’re not the first who had concrete, just the only ones who didn’t have money to replace it later on.