Sidewalks, Streets, and Houses

Sidewalks, streets, and houses: all  towns have them. Here in Gering, most of the streets are asphalt, and the concrete sidewalks butt right up to the curb, most of the time, with no grassy area between. Here, the houses are a mixture of small bungalows, tinier cottages, and ranch style homes of all sizes. I'm used to it now, but I used to think it was strange.

You see, I grew up in the other end of the state, in Fairbury, from the time I was nine until I headed off to college. And there, in Fairbury, streets and sidewalks, and even houses, were a little different.

For starters, many of the streets, in all but the newest sections of town, were made of red brick, laid closely together without mortar, so they were easy to remove and replace if the sewer pipes running under the streets needed attention. Brick streets don't really develop potholes, but if the bricks start to settle in one spot or another, it is relatively easy to dig them out and level them.

I walked on Fairbury's streets just last month. 

Fairbury is located just nine miles from Endicott Clay Products, where bricks have been manufactured since 1920. I imagine that bricks were quite cheap when they only needed to be trucked in to Fairbury from Endicott, so they were an excellent choice to upgrade the dirt and gravel streets that preceded them.

Some of the sidewalks were made of brick, too, especially in front of the stately brick mansions constructed for the brickyard executives. But most of the sidewalks were concrete, as they are in most towns, laid parallel to the streets, with a four foot section of grass providing a barrier adjacent to the street.

Unfortunately, when I was walking in Fairbury last month, I noticed that many of the residential sidewalks are crumbling, giving way to grass and weeds. Quite often, I had to resort to walking in the street. I walked two or three miles every evening I was there, rarely meeting anyone else out for a brisk evening walk or even a leisurely stroll, so perhaps sidewalks are no longer needed in the west part of town, since it seems that no one uses them anyway.

Too many Fairbury "sidewalks" look like this now.

But, the houses! I've always been enamored with Fairbury's houses. When I lived in an apartment on the fourth floor of the Hotel Mary-Etta, I dreamed of moving into one of Fairbury's grand old homes. I loved to walk past the historic Victorian homes, and the Queen Anne and Foursquare houses. The bungalows, with their solid columns and wide front porches, were interesting, too, as were the two-story farmhouses with their wraparound porches.

Disclaimer: I did not take the pictures of these 3 houses.

Even Fairbury has its share of ranch style homes, and a couple of neighborhoods filled with aging, decaying, nondescript, clapboard houses, but some of the streets are still lined with majestic old homes, built by the railroad bigwigs who once lived there.

One of the oldest grand homes in Fairbury.

The Union Pacific railroad still goes through Fairbury, but the railroad moved its offices out of Fairbury decades ago, after I was grown and gone. So, if you are in the market for a splendid, old, turreted mansion, or a Craftsman bungalow, or a house with an expansive front porch, you can probably find one for sale, at a reasonable price, in Fairbury.

I forgot to mention the wrought iron fences...

Gering may be lacking some of the charm that Fairbury has in abundance, but Gering is a thriving community with plenty of history of its own. Here, you can see Scotts Bluff National Monument, of course, and you can hike and camp in the breathtaking Wildcat Hills just south of town. The Legacy of the Plains Museum is a world class historical museum. We have beautiful parks, an amazing bike path, and excellent places to eat. In fact, Gering has just been named by Smithsonian Magazine as one of the top 20 U.S. towns everyone should consider visiting in 2018.

Perhaps Fairbury, with its marvelous parks and nearby historical sites, should be on that list, too, if only for the streets--and the houses.

My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,

    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. Isaiah 32:18