By Terri Horvath
Streets easily turned into mud in the early history of Zionsville. Not only did the horse and carriage or early automobile get bogged down in the muck, but the people daring to walk alongside did as well. For those on foot, concrete sidewalks would help keep them from sinking into the mire. In 1903, the town decided to start the installation.
Frank Gregory was chosen as the project’s contractor with Bert E. Culley on the crew. Culley’s grandson Arthur Bullington, Jr., related part of the story for a compilation of oral histories for the book “Zionsville The First One Hundred Years.”
“They mixed concrete by hand and had a horsedrawn, they called it a boat, but it was like a boat sled, that was dragged behind the horses. The gravel was put into that.
“They cut it by hand and poured the cement on top by hand, and dry twice, and cut it and put water on it. They had two men cutting and two men watering. Then when they got ready, they shoveled it into wheelbarrows. They just moved the boat right along as they went in the street. It took probably a couple of years ‘cause it was all done with manual labor.”
Lot owners on whose property the sidewalks abutted paid 15 cents per square foot.
