Wooden Alley, Chicago, Guia do visitante e o que fazer por perto

Wooden Alley is a short back lane on Chicago's Near North Side, often described as the last of its kind in the city. It is a small reminder of how Chicago once paved its streets, and of the huge effort the young city made to lift itself out of the mud.

The story behind it

Chicago's early builders chose a low, wet, lakeside site, and getting around on foot could mean wading through muck. The ground was also unhealthy, and disease was a constant worry for early residents. In the 1850s the city answered with an enormous engineering project: it raised the level of its streets and buildings so that downtown sat on higher, drier ground.

The new streets and alleys were often surfaced with small wooden blocks laid over gravel and sand and sealed with coal tar. Wood was cheap and quick to lay, which made it popular. It was also very flammable, which became a painful lesson in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Wooden paving gradually gave way to other materials, and this alley is what remains of that era's streetscape.

What to look for

• The surface itself: look for the pattern of small wooden blocks, which looks very different from the asphalt and concrete of the streets around it.
• The texture and wear of the blocks, which show how a material chosen for being cheap has had to cope with weather and traffic.
• The way the alley sits behind the buildings of State Parkway, a quiet working lane tucked away from the main street.
• The contrast with the modern city around it, a good moment to imagine Chicago before the grade was raised and before the fire.

Tips for your visit

• Plan on five to ten minutes. It is a short stop, best treated as one piece of a longer walk.
• Daylight is best, since you want to see the grain and texture of the blocks.
• It is a working alley beside homes, so keep your voice down, stay out of the way of vehicles and respect the neighbors.
• Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast are a short walk away, so it fits easily into a wider stroll through the neighborhood.

See it on a quest

Rats. A Cat’s Quest Through Lincoln Park, Chicago is a good way to see this place. You reach the alley on foot as one stop of a longer route through the Lincoln Park area, the app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group. You can start whenever you like, with no guide and no group to join.