The extensive cobblestone repairs on West 12th Street, between 8th Avenue and West 4th Street, took an evening respite on October 20, 2017.
Anyone living in or traveling through the West Village has no doubt seen this pipe replacement work in progress on many streets for several months. The cobblestones will return to their proper place on the streets now that most of the underground work is complete.
Here are some interesting historical tidbits in the topic: According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, most of New York was not paved with cobblestones but rather ‘Belgian Block’ which is longer and more rectangular than ‘cobblestone.’ In the early-19th century, when the City began replacing the dirt-and-oyster shell streets with a more durable option, it selected Belgian Block. Today, the term ‘cobblestone’ has been generalized to reference any type of paving using stone blocks.
