Interesting Wood Block Facts

To our interested readers....

We've always believed that our block flooring products have an interesting history! Because they do! And so, we'd like to share some of it with you....

On March 19, 1845 Edgar Allen Poe wrote about street paving. The entire article is offered below. In case you don't have time to read the entire article, we quote from his article (fifth paragraph) the following, which we thought was interesting..."It is generally admitted, we believe, that as long as they last, the wooden pavements have the advantage over all others. They occasion little noise (we place this item first and are serious in so placing it as the most important consideration of all); they are kept clean with little labor; they save a great deal in horsepower; they are pleasant to the hoof, and thus save the health of the horse-as well as some twenty or thirty per cent in the wear and tear of vehicles-and as much more, in time, to all travellers through the increased rapidity of passage to and fro". I think he is saying they're also comfortable under our foot for us too!

Street-Paving by Edgar Allan Poe
(from www.eapoe.org)

Interesting to learn the origin of the word "milestone"!

The following articles are offered as interesting reading, but don't miss the article following, Parts I and II by David O. Whitten, formerly of Auburn University.

• Wooden Street Paving by David H. Jurney
• Wood Block Paving by Bob Kindred
• A lesson in Woodblocking (reference www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.u/history/sydneystreets. (We guess block flooring made it all the way to Australia.)
• David O. Whitten, EBHS Archivist "A century of Parquet Pavements: Wood as a Paving Material in the United States and Abroad, 184-1940, Part 1 Nineteenth Century Origins, and Part 2, Twentieth Century Decline: Geography, Technology, History.

We talked with Mr. Whitten, who resides in Auburn, Alabama, and we asked him if we could add his article to our website. He was pleased to know who we are, and that wooden blocks are still being used!

Mr. Whitten writes in Part II, page 162 at the bottom... "WOOD BLOCK PAVING WAS NOT A FAILURE, IT DISAPPEARED BECAUSE NEEDS CHANGED. MORE-OVER, WOOD BLOCKS WERE NOT INTENDED AS AN ALL PURPOSE PAVING MATERIAL, BUT A SPECIAL SUBSTANCE FOR SELECTED STREETS. CITY ENGINEERS DID NOT ENVISION A CITY PAVED WITH WOOD. THEY DID CONSIDER WOOD BLOCKS APPEALING FOR STREETS NEAR HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS LIKE COURT HOUSES WHERE STREET NOISE WAS ESPECIALLY BOTHERSOME AND IN CONGESTED STREETS WITH HEAVY TRAFFIC".

We hope you enjoy the articles.