WATCH THE VIDEO AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY...and click on the image to get a better view of the bricks.
Exactly how deep is the pavement on Ada's Main Street?
Good question. How did it get that deep, what are those bricks doing under the pavement, how long have they been there, and what's under the bricks?
These questions are surfacing - excuse the pun - as a water line is being placed across Main Street at Lima Avenue.
With the intersection closed and digging underway, one can study the history of the street by observing what's being uncovered.
The photo with this story reveals several things, and sorry to say, we don't have the specific dates on these changes:
1 - At the very core of Main Street is dirt, representing the original Ada. On top of the dirt is stone, laid at the time Main Street was official bricked.
2 - The bricks are "paver bricks" not the kind you'll find on houses. They are larger and heavier than house bricks. They stood the test of time as Ada moved from horse and wagons to motor cars sometime at the turn of an earlier century.
3 - As street improvments took place the bricked street, however quaint, was eventually covered with pavement. The photo here shows nearly five inches of pavement on top of the bricks. This represents several pavings and re-pavings of Main Street, which eventually became State Route 235.
We've included a couple additional photos of the work, plus a video.
