735 W. 8th Street

One thing LPA loves is a well-maintained historic sidewalk. In fact, in our summer 2019 PIPs, we admired the repair of a bluestone walk at 643 Indiana Street. Now this beautiful brick sidewalk project on 8th Street, a few blocks west of Tennessee, has caught our attention as well.

Betsi Anderson, the owner of this rental property, has worked to maintain this little beauty for years. Last spring she realized that the long stretch of brick sidewalk out front needed an overhaul. She asked a crew she has worked with before to remove and re-lay the existing brick walk this past fall.

The two-person crew, who had experience working on other brick sidewalks, pulled up the existing bricks, reworked the base and smoothed it with additional sand, reset the soldier (border) bricks and then placed the old bricks back in a tight pattern. The work took about four days. As is typical in a project like this, there weren’t enough old bricks to finish the job. But the city was able to supply the additional bricks from the public works yard.

Although the work wasn’t cheap, Betsi says it cost far less than pouring a new concrete sidewalk. And staying with brick is in keeping with the historic feel of the neighborhood. “It’s the little things that are important,” Betsi says. “Maintenance and caring for property are important to the community.”