Don't worry, the bricks will be back

Don't worry about the bricks on Norris Avenue. They continue to serve McCook well and will remain in place.

Those words came this week from Kyle Potthoff, the city's director of public works. He commented on the bricks in the midst of a crosswalk replacement program at four of the intersections on Norris Avenue: A, C, D and E.

While all the concrete at the intersections will be removed and replaced, Potthoff said the bricks will remain in place, just as they have for the past 86 years.

The years of use for the bricks is awesome, especially considering that their life was estimated at "25 years or better" when they were installed in 1919.

For the most part, the bricks are still in good condition. They have been worn down, and there are a few depressions, but the bricks continue to handle downtown traffic in a safe, smooth and efficient fashion.

As the bricks have aged, the nostalgic affection for them has grown. In recent years, the term, "On the Bricks," has been popularized by Mike Ford and other merchants when referring to downtown businesses. Also, the bricks were a prominent centerpiece for promotion during McCook's years of participation in the Main Street Program.

It seemed like a lot of money at the time, but the $140,000 McCook spent for more than a million bricks in 1919 has proven to be a tremendous bargain. Back then, the bricks cost a little over a dime each. That amounts to just a little over a penny per brick per decade.

Pro-paving forces would have liked to known that back in the teens, because there was a lot of opposition to paving the streets with bricks. "McCook's too small and the cost is too high," said G.E. Thompson, leader of the anti-paving crowd. But Doubting Thompson didn't get his way and the "Paving and Progress" forces pushed ahead with their campaign to install the bricks.

While concrete and asphalt are the favored methods of paving today, it might still pay to consider bricks for streets in some situations. According to Gerhold Concrete, bricks for paving can be purchased today for 67 cents per brick.

A bargain then, a bargain now. Bricks have served McCook well for more than eight decades, and here's hoping their use can extend past the century mark.