Explore Chicago's Historic Wood-Paved Alley, First Built in 1909
Walk 530 feet of wood paving on a working Gold Coast alley and read the plaque that dates it.
🪵 What the ground says
Start at the State Parkway end in daylight and look down before you look up. A few steps back the surface reads as cobblestone. Up close the block ends give it away, four inch squares of wood laid end to end, with grit in the quarter inch gaps.
A plaque at this entrance dates the work to 1909, names subcontractor Alexander Todd of the KRQ company, and notes this was one of only eight paved that way that year. First blocks were creosote soaked cedar. Most of the wooden blocks were replaced during the 2011 restoration with black locust from Pennsylvania. The National Register listed the alley in 2002.
Walk the 530 feet toward Astor Street and the alley narrows past a coach house and the backs of Gold Coast houses, the 1880 Archbishop's Residence wall on the north side. The lane is public city property, open to anyone on foot, with no ticket and no gate.
At both mouths the city laid asphalt about eight feet in, and the wood starts a few steps inside. Watch for turning cars.
