Today’s Flashback photo (if today was
actually 9/6/13) shows a Stamford, Conn., road crew in the process of crushing
old stonewalls to make them into roads. Seriously. The city bought a rock crusher in 1909
for $2,011 to save money on road building. The Guide to
Nature magazine
explains the rationale: “Everywhere in New England there are plenty of stone
walls but in many places there are not good roads. So, as the old-fashioned
saying goes, why not let one hand wash the other; that is grind up a few of the
stone walls and improve some of the roads? Far be it from us to advocate
banishing all the picturesque stone walls, but there is no danger of doing
that, for a few stone walls go a long way in making enduring roads.” The photo
was taken sometime between 1909 and 1914. At the time of the article, eight
miles of roads were built. The Stamford Historical Society reports the following streets were made from stonewalls:
Hope Street, from North Springdale to the Glenbrook trolley junction, and
Crescent Street and Courtland Avenue, Glenbrook, Newfield Avenue, Belltown Road
and Oaklawn Road.
(Updated Photo with Overlay - 10/25/2022)
Original Dead Link:
Updated Link:
No comments:
Post a Comment