MONROE COUNTY HISTORIC PHOTO ALBUM
Street
Scenes
It’s hard to imagine,
walking down busy Monroe County streets today, a time when
they looked as broad and quiet as they do in these photos.
Streets were serious business in any town. One of the
oldest responsibilities for a municipality is the
maintenance of public thoroughfares. Most borough streets
were not paved in the years before 1900, but attempts were
made to keep them passable, and new equipment made their
upkeep easier.
Technological innovations such as electricity and new
knowledge of sanitation contributed to new demands placed
on municipal leaders. Meanwhile, residents were expected to
help, too. In Stroudsburg, for instance, a law was passed
in 1889 fining residents for throwing garbage in the
streets instead of burning it in their yards.
Stroudsburg led Monroe County municipalities in street
development because of its faster growth, but the more
rural towns made the same improvements in time.
In 1889 Stroudsburg bought the county’s first road machine,
which was used to clean out gutters, level uneven areas and
give the road the proper slope from the center to the
gutters. Both Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg hired the
services of a street sprinkler to wet down dust on the
roads. Lot owners had to curb and pave sidewalks, the
boroughs laid flagstone crossings to make it easier for
pedestrians to cross muddy roads.
The first lamps, using burning oil, were put out in 1868 by
Stroudsburg businessmen. By 1874, the borough was paying to
have the lamps lit each night, although citizens were
responsible for repairing the lamps, except for wicks and
globes. Then electricity came along. Arc lights were put on
Main Street in Stroudsburg in 1889 to stay lit until 2 a.m.
every night except on bright moon-lit nights.