Montgomery’s brick versus asphalt war: Ever wonder why part of Scott Street is brick-paved?

Safiya Charles | Montgomery Advertiser

In the downtown district, one stretch of road sticks out like a sore thumb.

It’s the bumpy bit of Scott Street that runs a block between South McDonough and Hull streets, where the road shifts from smooth gray asphalt to densely packed red bricks.

It's the only one like it downtown, and perhaps in the city, save the portion of brick paved road in Old Cloverdale, near First United Methodist Church.

So, what’s the deal with these random red bricks?

Patrick Dunson, an engineer at the Montgomery Transportation Department, believes it’s a throwback to the old days.

“It’s one of very few streets in Montgomery that’s still original. Most all the streets downtown were brick paved and that’s one of the few that remains that hasn’t been covered with asphalt,” he said.

“Some people like the nostalgia, others think it’s too rough. It can be controversial; just depends on what side you’re coming from.”

Digging through the newspaper’s archives, it appears that the capital district’s roads were once indeed very controversial.

As early as 1891, residents called for the Commerce Street and Dexter Avenue business district to be paved. It was reported in this paper that “dust had taken the place of mud” and the “sprinkling carts were kept busy.”

The people wanted pavement, but not just any pavement. By 1894, it became clear to Montgomerians that asphalt was the trendy albeit superior choice over gravel or brick as it could withstand “heavy traffic” and “wear and tear,” and was “the prettiest and most ornamental paving now in use in the country.”

A Col. M.L. Woods, back in the city after 20 years in D.C., is quoted in the Advertiser’s April 22, 1894, edition, saying: “If Dexter Avenue could be paved as Pennsylvania Avenue is, it would be one of the most imposing highways in the United States. It is wide, leads to the Capitol and could not fail to attract the attention and secure the admiration of every visitor to Montgomery.”

It appears Council members were unmoved.

Just a month later, the Advertiser reported that the municipal body’s decision on whether to pave the avenue with brick or asphalt had left citizens incensed.

“Since the action of the Council Monday night in deciding to pave Dexter Avenue with brick, there has been but little else thought of or discussed by the people. The people are aroused.

"We say again before it’s too late, give us Dexter Avenue paved with asphalt. The people want it, notwithstanding it may cost a little more, and if the people want asphalt on Dexter Avenue, give it to them.”

That little more was a difference of about $7,744 in savings gained in paving 18,009 square yards in concrete brick, or more than $200,000 today after adjusting for inflation.

The savings didn’t deter residents from voicing their dissatisfaction with the city’s decision, nor the Council’s campaign to convince citizens of the merits of their decision, which left people feeling very much like they’d been hit over the head with a big old brick.

An item from May 20, 1894’s “City Building Gossip” noted that “it seems to be an argument of some that after the brick streets have been put down and the people see what a splendid pavement brick makes, they will cry for brick streets ... yet withal the people seem to prefer asphalt on this particular avenue, because of its beauty.”

It would take 30 years for the council and residents to find common ground.

In June 1924, the paper reported that the Chamber of Commerce had started a “movement for resurfacing Dexter Avenue from curb to curb with a modern sheet of asphalt pavement” as well as to improve the “foot of Commerce Street;” the reporter couldn’t help throwing in one last jab, “thereby forming a nucleus for obliterating the two eye-sores to the Montgomery business district.”

Ouch.

A portion of the road was finally paved in asphalt by July 1928, according to a notice to property owners posted in the Advertiser announcing that from the east side of Court Square to the west of Lawrence Street, Dexter Avenue would be “re-surfaced with asphalt.”

It’s ironic then, that in the 2000s when the city undertook the Dexter Avenue Project, demolishing and renovating old properties and making road repairs, it considered converting the asphalt pavement once again to brick paved roads.

“We actually looked at trying to restore the block in front of the Capitol ... but we didn’t have the funds,” Dunson said.

“It would have been over a million. I can tell you that for sure.”

It would seem that the ghosts of progressive municipal road repairs remain satisfied, though the remnants of their bitter struggle still linger. A notice to property owners in the Advertiser on June 21, 1938, declared that Scott Street, from “the east side of McDonough Street to the west side of Hull Street” had been paved with brick.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Safiya Charles at (334) 240-0121 or SCharles@gannett.com