Before asphalt covered miles of urban streets and alleys, roadways were paved with a variety of materials, depending on local conditions and what municipalities had on hand. Chicago had easy access to cheap lumber from Wisconsin and Michigan throughout much of the nineteenth century and so a large number of its thoroughfares were paved with wooden blocks, also known as Nicolson pavement. Belgian blocks, a durable stone paver, were also widely used. Both went out of style when asphalt emerged in the twentieth century.

Asphalt is still the preferred paving material today and it covers most of Chicago's streets, but Belgian block paving can still be found in some of the city's older districts. And though there are no wood-blocked streets remaining, there are a few wood-blocked alleys tucked out of sight, including this one between State and Astor Streets in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. This alley was created and paved with wood blocks in 1909.

The city recently repaired and restored the alley, replacing the original wood pavers with new, historically-accurate wooden blocks. 

Chrucky, Serhii. "Wood Block Alleys." Accessed August 2016. http://forgottenchicago.com/articles/wood-block-alleys/

Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992. 

United States Department of the Interior. "National Register Nominations for Chicago." Accessed August 2016. https://archive.org/stream/NationalRegisterNominationsForChicago/WoodenAlleyNrNom_djvu.txt

Photographs and text by Hope Shannon, Loyola University Chicago