![]() ![]() In 1911, it promoted the idea again: “dangerous wood sidewalks, build new (concrete) sidewalks”. The Cowenhoven Building was one of the first. They were much thicker than what is poured today.Ī 1910 note in The Aspen Times stated, “Hurray for the cement sidewalk.” To set the example, The Times constructed one in front of its Main Street office. Jerome Wheeler, when he built the Opera House, even had a wood sidewalk in the alley behind the Wheeler.īeginning at the turn of the century, many converted to concrete sidewalks. Wood sidewalks, some elevated well above the street level, were common. They graded the street, but it angled toward one side of the street, and in the spring and every time it rained, the sidewalk between Center (Garmisch) and 3 rd Street “ladies were compelled to wade around the puddle in the muddy road.” That sidewalk was the primary path to downtown from the west end of town. One of the challenges was Main Street in the area where there is a hill. If they didn’t, the city built them and billed them for the work. The city required owners of lots in the business district to build them at their expense. One of their early tasks was to create an ordinance requiring anyone having a hole in their sidewalk to have a grating or cover over it that would prevent animals, vehicles, or persons from falling into it.īetween 18, the first round of sidewalks were built. Who wants to walk in the muck? The city created the Committee on Streets and Alleys to deal with sidewalks. The layout left room for sidewalks, but Aspen had to build them. You see worn paths in the streets, but few sidewalks, where horses and pedestrians wandered to their destinations. The oldest photos of Aspen, before the cottonwoods planted to line the streets and ditches dug to provide the water, make you think the streets were wider then. ![]() Of great importance before sewers, outhouses could be far from the house but near an alley where they could be emptied by the service wagons. The lots were large enough to allow space for wagons and carriages to be parked near the alley and for sheds and barns. There was room for a sidewalk on the street side. Aspen’s blocks, streets and alleys split the difference. The contrast with a city like Salt Lake City was obvious. Colorado gold mining towns of the 1860s, many in narrow valleys, created very small blocks with tiny lots to cram people into less space. ![]()
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