This reminds me of a conversation I had with my grandmother not too long ago; she was telling me how she used to ride those streetcars to work back in the day(early fifties I believe).
I'm not sure what the picture describes, it looks like it could be where the street dept. has ground off the top part of the road to even it out. If the underlying stone is limestone and not concrete it is clearly damaged. The brick is scuffed up a little too. There's a general understanding of the historical value of brick pavement (outside of the street dept.) but there is a lot of limestone curbing of the same era that is held in total disregard and that's not good. The street department will dig it up and throw it out in a heartbeat.
I still see the occasional limestone curbing about. The problem is that unlike granite, it doesn't hold up that long. Most of what I've seen in the limestone department is in terrible condition.
The limestone once used for curbing is rough hewn and dates from a particular period in Indiana history. You can see the same kind of limestone in the foundations of downtown buildings of the same time period. The curbing gets torn up over the years with freezing ice and salt and heavy cars and trucks over it. Even broken up it's still a reminder of who we are. It shouldn't be destroyed completely for no good reason. There are some granite curbs in town too, probably they date from the same time period, being granite they are pretty much as solid as the ever were, evidence that the neighborhood was then a wealthy one, granite curbs would have been shipped here from far outside Indiana. Some of the granite curbs are curved to fit the street corner.
I'm interested in the particular era for those granite curbs. I have a corner lot and one of those rounded granite curbs. The straight part of the curb is (original) concrete, but the rounded part is granite. My neighborhood was never particularly wealthy. I live in Irvington, but in the part NW of the park with smaller homes. On the other hand, my little nine-block area was already platted as of that 1899 map that was going around, even though none of the houses seem to be older than the mid-1920s. Just one of those mysteries.
Pulling up photos from the archives, eh?! Hehe, that's about the only thing I'm putting up these days. :)
I think we've got the exact same segment posted. From the SSC tour near The Maxwell, right? We should do another one of those tours sometime. There are certainly enough new things to see and/or future project locations to ponder.
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Ah, old Indy takes a peek at what's changed.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with my grandmother not too long ago; she was telling me how she used to ride those streetcars to work back in the day(early fifties I believe).
I'm not sure what the picture describes, it looks like it could be where the street dept. has ground off the top part of the road to even it out. If the underlying stone is limestone and not concrete it is clearly damaged. The brick is scuffed up a little too. There's a general understanding of the historical value of brick pavement (outside of the street dept.) but there is a lot of limestone curbing of the same era that is held in total disregard and that's not good. The street department will dig it up and throw it out in a heartbeat.
I still see the occasional limestone curbing about. The problem is that unlike granite, it doesn't hold up that long. Most of what I've seen in the limestone department is in terrible condition.
The limestone once used for curbing is rough hewn and dates from a particular period in Indiana history. You can see the same kind of limestone in the foundations of downtown buildings of the same time period. The curbing gets torn up over the years with freezing ice and salt and heavy cars and trucks over it. Even broken up it's still a reminder of who we are. It shouldn't be destroyed completely for no good reason. There are some granite curbs in town too, probably they date from the same time period, being granite they are pretty much as solid as the ever were, evidence that the neighborhood was then a wealthy one, granite curbs would have been shipped here from far outside Indiana. Some of the granite curbs are curved to fit the street corner.
I'm interested in the particular era for those granite curbs. I have a corner lot and one of those rounded granite curbs. The straight part of the curb is (original) concrete, but the rounded part is granite. My neighborhood was never particularly wealthy. I live in Irvington, but in the part NW of the park with smaller homes. On the other hand, my little nine-block area was already platted as of that 1899 map that was going around, even though none of the houses seem to be older than the mid-1920s. Just one of those mysteries.
Pulling up photos from the archives, eh?! Hehe, that's about the only thing I'm putting up these days. :)
I think we've got the exact same segment posted. From the SSC tour near The Maxwell, right? We should do another one of those tours sometime. There are certainly enough new things to see and/or future project locations to ponder.
Busted.
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