6/12/2013:
The history of ordinary, everyday items, like sidewalks, almost always takes a back seat to more exciting topics – like murders or revolutions or accidents or lefse recipes. But something as simple as the history of a concrete sidewalk may allow a modern-day person to appreciate mundane items underfoot. On this date in 1907, partway down page seven, the Bismarck Tribune printed a small story entitled “New Walk To Capitol.”
A new sidewalk was hardly a front-page news bulletin, but what was newsworthy was the replacement of the old wooden sidewalk by a modern sidewalk of concrete. The old wooden walkway had been inadvertently burned just a month earlier. Workmen had foolishly tried to burn some rubbish and unsightly weeds in the midst of strong winds, when sparks leaped up and set ablaze the wooden sidewalk that led to the main entrance of the Capitol.
Firemen, helped by Capitol Building Superintendent Daniel Slattery, came to put out the flames, but the wood walkway was quickly destroyed. Slattery’s coat briefly “caught fire” and was no longer fit for wearing, but he was unharmed.
The newspaper noted that the sidewalk’s destruction was really a blessing, as steps would be taken to replace old-fashioned wood with rock-hard concrete, and the new sidewalk was in place by the end of the summer of 1907.
There had been a push for concrete sidewalks in Bismarck since 1898. The old boardwalks lifted pedestrians above the mud and dust and horse manure of unpaved streets that plagued citizens of that era, but the wooden sidewalks ended up being another hazard – because they were slippery when wet and the boards rotted out and broke.
It was cheaper for cities to replace wooden sidewalks with up-to-date concrete than it was to pay damages to those injured by tripping on loose boards or slipping on rotten, slimy planks. Accordingly, Bismarck’s city council passed a new sidewalk ordinance in 1901 that required that “any and all sidewalks hereafter constructed within the limits of the city of Bismarck shall be constructed of stone, tiles, cement or other fireproof materials.”
The law was refined in 1908 by requiring “Portland cement,” as the material underfoot so citizens could walk sure-footedly into the future on modern sidewalks. Solid sidewalks became so commonplace as to hardly be mentioned in history – except in this feature, of course.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Steve Hoffbeck, History Department, MSU Moorhead.
Sources: “New Walk To Capitol,” Bismarck Tribune, June 12, 1907, p. 7.
“Burned: Old Wooden Sidewalk To The Capitol Destroyed By Fire,” Bismarck Tribune, May 16, 1907, p. 5.
“City and County, Friday, July 15,” Bismarck Weekly Tribune, July 22, 1898, p. 8.
“City and County, Friday, June 30,” Bismarck Weekly Tribune, July 8, 1898, p. 8.
“Bad Sidewalks Dangerous,” Bismarck Weekly Tribune, October 11, 1895, p. 3.
“New Sidewalk Ordinance,” Bismarck Tribune, April 28, 1908, p. 6.
“The Amended Ordinance,” Bismarck Tribune, September 11, 1901, p. 3.
“Avoid Chances,” Bismarck Tribune, September 17, 1906, p. 3.
Daniel Slattery in 1910 U.S. Federal Census, City of Bismarck, Burleigh County.