Between the late 1890s and the mid-1950s, paving of streets with brick was common throughout the United States, especially in downtown areas and wealthy residential neighborhoods. Main Street was first paved with Thurber brick about 1897-99. The street surface was rebricked in 1939 during the Depression. Other downtown streets were also paved with brick during this period, and Fort Worth has a fair number of surviving brick streets in and near the central business district. Many have been asphalted over and are not presently visible as brick. Main Street’s brick paving was again rebuilt in 1980-83 in conjunction with the Sundance Square renovation. Contract Builders was the contractor for this project. As examples of a widespread street technology which has all but disappeared in most American cities and as a visually distinctive aspect of the urban fabric of Fort Worth’s central business district, these streets appear eligible for the National Register.
