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5§ <br />r� <br />• <br />An 1866 ordinance called for brick paving (14') of sidewalk north side of <br />Washington Street from main to first alley. As early as 1867 concrete sidewalk <br />was installed by John R Foster, a notable local attorney at his property on <br />the north side of Washington Street at Taylor Street.(4) The cobblestone <br />pavement at Michigan and Washington Streets was replaced with cedar block in <br />1888, presumably to provide a smoother road surface.(5) <br />In March of 1889 the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation which <br />came to be known as Barrett Law providing local jurisdictions with the power <br />to amortize public improvements over a 10 year period and recoup the expenses <br />from adjactent property owners served by the improvement. This provided a <br />fiscal device for the city . to fund growth related infra—structural <br />improvements.(6) <br />The first modern pavement in the city of South ,Bend to be authorized by <br />the city council was approved in July of 1889. Viewed as an experiment, bricks <br />from the Chapin Brickyard were laid as paving on Jefferson Boulevard from <br />Michigan Street to Lafayette Avenue. Composed of two courses of hard burned <br />brick (common building brick), the paving was laid by Martin Hoban's company <br />according to specifications by William Whitten, city engineer.(7) The August <br />8, 1889 South Bend Tribune reported the recent ordinance to surface a section <br />of Jefferson Street with brick. The article included a letter from one N.B. <br />Abbott of the Ohio Paving Company of Dayton Ohio setting forth proper <br />specifications for such work and of course offering services. There is however <br />(4) <br />ibid, p.-370 <br />(5) <br />ibid, P. 369 <br />(6) <br />ibid, p. 370 <br />(7) <br />ibid, p. 369 <br />page 2 <br />