Repaving work reveals former brick surface
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
The construction work on State Route 149 through the village of Granville has become the talk of the town. Besides presenting both the promise of a smooth, newly paved thoroughfare through the village, and in the meantime a bumpy, groove-pavement one, it has also inspired other conversation.
The milling work, which took off the old top layer of pavement for replacement, uncovered an older layer of pavement. In some places, however, the pavement was sufficiently thin to allow for the uncovering of brick pavement.
The brick layer originated with the first pavement project in the village of Granville. Until that time, all the streets of the village had been dirt roads.
The village board initiated the effort during February of 1913. The board passed a resolution, requesting that the state Department of Highways improve the state highway through the village of Granville. This highway followed today’s Route 149 up to the corner with North Street, then went up North Street to the village line; East Main Street was a village-owned highway in 1913. Correspondence and visits ensued.
The village originally asked for a concrete pavement with a 16-foot width for most sections. The state’s tentative plans, which were presented to the village board in April, used bituminous macadam as the paving material instead.
Under the state’s 1909 highway law, the village board could request alterations to the highway project to better suit their needs. The board passed a resolution at their May 4, 1913 meeting to that effect. The highway specifications were described in detail by the board, which asked for a minimum of 20-feet width, curbing in some sections, and most importantly, the use of brick as paving material. The village noted in the resolution that they would pay the difference in cost between the price of the project with the brick pavement, and that of the state’s original proposal that would have built a 16-foot-wide road of bituminous macadam.
The village also requested that the connections to side streets and cross streets be made of brick, and meet with the curb lines of the streets. In addition, the resolution included a provision that would have made a “street railroad” have to pave the space between their tracks, and two feet from each side of the tracks.
The state was slow to respond to the request to alter the project for the brick pavement and wider road. In the coming months, the village board passed a resolution to send the State Commissioner of Highways a petition requesting he modify the plans for improving the state highway to reflect the requested width, wider than that originally proposed by the state.
By July, the state had evidently accepted the village board’s request. Mark Nelson of the State Highway Commission appeared before the board at its July 23 meeting, with maps and plans of the proposed project, with brick pavement.
In July, the state Department of Highways sent more information regarding the project. The state highway along village streets in Granville, then internally designated with parts as numbers 103 and 104, would become a single highway, numbered 5404. The state also “sent the bill” to the village regarding the excess cost that the village, in its May 4 resolution, had said it would pay; the cost would be $30,700.
While the state would send out the bids and oversee the construction, the village had to pay a share of the bill. The board passed a resolution, at a special meeting held July 24, to put a proposition to the qualified voters of the village of Granville, asking to borrow $30,700, and sell bonds, for the purpose of paying the village’s share of cost of constructing the brick pavement on the state highway through the village. Originally, the vote was to be held on Aug. 5, but the village board rescinded the original date on Aug. 2, and instead decided for Aug. 18. The vote was held on Aug. 18, 1913, at the Henry Hose firehouse on Church Street. The proposition passed, 196 yes to 48 no votes, and 5 spoiled votes; 249 voted in all.
Construction started on Quaker Street at the south incorporation line. Construction wrapped up on the laying of brick pavement on North Street in August of 1914. The total cost of the project was $77,684.89, with the state paying for $48,537.44.
The village was asked to approve of the work done on the brick pavement by the firm of Callanan and Prescott, under the auspices of the state Highway Department. The village board inspected the work with an engineer, and passed a resolution approving the work at its September 1914 meeting.
East Main Street, while today a part of State Route 149, was not a state highway in 1914. The village board wanted this important thoroughfare to be improved to brick pavement as were being done to Quaker, West Main, Main, and North Streets. The village board discussed this matter at its May 4, 1914 meeting. The village attempted to ask the state for assistance in paving the street, as they were doing with those streets, state highway 5404. This time, the state Highway Department instead said they would only do a certain width, and not that specified by the village. Not wanting the street to be of inferior quality to the other brick paved streets, the village decided to embark on paving East Main Street under its own authority.
The village board passed a resolution at its Aug. 4 meeting to put a proposition to the qualified voters of the Village of Granville, asking to borrow $18,000, and sell bonds, for the purpose of paying for the construction of brick pavement on East Main Street. The vote was held on Aug. 18, 1914. The proposition passed, 189 yes to 60 no votes, and a single spoiled vote; 250 voted in all.
The bids for bonds and those for the construction contract were opened at the Sept. 5 meeting. For the bonds, the Granville National Bank’s bid of $18,250 was accepted. For the contract, the bid of the John B. Dower company of Ballston Spa, $15,853.50, was accepted.
An article in the Aug. 21, 1914 issue of the Sentinel on the passing of the East Main Street paving proposition stated that “the entire job will be completed and in use by Nov. 15. Arrangements will be made to care for the traffic so as to cause as little inconvenience as possible.”
Then as now, Quaker, West Main, Main, East Main and North Streets were among the busiest streets in Granville. The Aug. 21, 1914 article also noted that “with the most used and worst conditioned roads permanently improved, the board will be in a position to give attention to the betterment of the outlying streets. Every thoroughfare in the village should be in good shape for traffic and attractive in appearance, thus benefiting the users and advertising the town.” Granville would give attention to those roads, but it would not be until 1955 that all the village streets were paved.
The brick pavement was the look of the main streets for more than 30 years. However, by the late 1930s, it had begun to show wear; the shoulders of Main Street were paved over with asphalt. Main Street and East Main Street were paved over in October of 1946. West Main Street and North Street were paved by the early 1950s. Quaker Street was paved over by 1955. By this time, East Main Street was a state highway as well. After the Route 22 Granville bypass was built in 1961, Route 149 was designated to the current streets through the village.
Route 149 was repaved at least a few times since 1961, most recently in 1998. The milling system was used then as was done last month, and the brick pavement resurfaced then as well.
The brick pavement layer peeking through the milled pavement is a reminder of road improvement projects of over a century ago, when most roads were unpaved dirt roads. The bricks won’t be seen for much longer, however. Route 149 paving will resume, and if weather permits, it should be done in a little over a week’s time. The bricks will then be covered once more, until Route 149 is repaved again, the surface milled, and the brick revealed again.
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