The Dales House at 414 Alexander Street circa 1890 CVA Photo SGN 490

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Wooden Cobbles Underneath Union Street?!?



Union Street is part of an east-west cycle path that stretches all the way from Boundary Road to the False Creek Seawall. I wonder if the cyclists that barrel down my neighbourhood road give more than a passing thought to the causes of the bumpity bumps they must experience in the 200-block of Union. Just in front of the new V6A development construction site, parts of the asphalt have come off revealing something surprising underneath. Speeding cars must experience them too. It is almost as if the ghosts of my old neighbourhood are working a bit of magic, telling the frantic passers by to slow down and pay attention to what they are passing by.



In August, when I was planning my first history walking tour of the East End, I did a run through of my route. That's when I found them. I was crossing the street from where the main part of Hogan's Alley was--the block bounded by Main, Union, Gore Avenue and Prior-- north toward where Vie's Chicken and Steak House had once stood at 209 Union. In the westbound lane of Union Street, there were three or four places where the asphalt had come off exposing of all things wooden cobbles. Now I have seen brick exposed in a number of places in the city. There is, or was, large sections of exposed brick in Victoria Drive between Powell and East Hastings. I don't know how old it is. In my imagination it was laid that way so that horses could easier climb the hill. Maybe it is not that old at all and has nothing to do with horses. If anyone knows the story, please let me know. 



Then there are large sections of East Pender, or is it Frances, on both sides of Clark Drive, where you can see granite cobbles that once lined some old BC Electric tram route. But nowhere had I seen wooden cobbles before.



Quite coincidentally, during a search for an article on the opening of the Connaught Hotel (see earlier post) in the February 28, 1913 Daily News Advertiser I found an article on those very wooden blocks. Rather than reiterate what is written there, have a read for yourself. Just so you know, and the article will talk about it, the cobbles were not left exposed like that, but were covered with a layer of creosote and sand. This method of road paving was supposed to be the best for horse traffic, which in 1913, still dominated our city’s roadways.



Remember that all images in these blogs will enlarge when you click them.

Since this piece was first posted, a friend of mine sent me a link to an article on Waddington Alley in Victoria. It is still completely paved with wooden cobbles. Here is the link: http://www.islandnet.com/~jar/streetscapes/topics/waddington.htm

14 comments:

  1. I hadn't noticed these before the tour (which was awesome, btw) but have seen much smaller exposed patches on Alexander by the Japanese Hall. The newspaper article explaining the choice of wood is a great find.

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  2. Thanks Lani,

    It was exactly how i explained it. It was an accident. Neat, eh? and right outside your door almost!

    Thank you so much for coming on the tour. It was a huge honour.

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  3. In the early 1970s I lived for a number of years in the 800 block Union St. When we first moved there the entire block was still "paved" with those wooden cobbles. During the time we lived there the City paved the block with asphalt but for the life of me I can't remember if they pulled up the wooden cobbles or just paved over them. I guess the next time the City digs a hole in that block for whatever reason, someone could come and have a look-see at what's underneath the pavement.

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  4. Would love to talk to you about what you remember of the neighbourhood back then, Gerry. If you don't mind, please drop me a line at househistorian (at) yahoo.ca.

    Thanks.

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  5. Incredible! I'm going to go look at them tomorrow. Great article!

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  6. I am shocked to see - in Chequer Street, London EC1Y, Islington Council are pulling up wooden cobbles and replacing with granite...

    Worth campaigning about to them, do you think ?

    charles.bowyer@reuters.com

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  7. i have seen the very same cobbles in falklands rd kentish town london NW5
    the road is covered in tarmac but there are some patches exposed in the street. yours leon

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  8. I have seen the wooden bricks in Chequer Street, London EC1Y, and I too was very shocked to see builders replacing the street with granite and was ready to complain about the council having no repect for history...but today I was really glad to see that they have kept & restored the section of wooden cobbles and have sympathetically finished the rest of the road off with granite. The wooden bricks have now become a feature rather than something to spot under patches of tarmac. Was this the result of a campaign suggested by Charles Bowyer? If so, well done!

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  9. The cobbles on Union Street have been dug up along the north side of the 200-blk and will no douby be sent out as landfill. I rescued about 20 of them... I hope they will clean up okay.

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  10. Since you first posted this, similar patches of wooden cobbles have been exposed one block north on E Georgia.

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  11. Salvage as many as you can, if any are being removed! Those wood cobbles are historical gold.

    Certainly old growth. A nice display piece if properly cleaned and preserved.

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  12. So does anyone have any recommendations on how to clean one of those things?

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  13. Oddly enough I saw wooden cobbles (or setts) in a little street in Rochdale, Lancashire, England last night. The tarmac surface had broken away in patches to reveal them.

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  14. There are wooden cobbles around a governor's mansion in Havana, Cuba and the reason for the wooden cobbles was given as it was quieter than granite when horses and carriages were going over them. Probably the same reason.

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