In February 2011 the Fort Wayne Board of Public Works approved a resolution to preserve a limited number of brick roads adjacent to historic districts. I didn’t even know that Fort Wayne had brick roads until the past long and harsh winter revealed a small section of red brick under crumbling asphalt on my way to work.

I was intrigued by the prospect of learning more about the history of my home town and researched the location of those roads that should be preserved and maintained in their original state. Today we were allowed to leave work early, and I took my camera along a scenic tour of the historic brick roads in the West Central neighborhood.

While it is wonderful to see that history is still alive, it is also saddening to see that the city isn’t doing a very good job in maintaining and preserving it. The houses in that area are in bad shape, you wouldn’t want to explore there after dark. The predominant feature in West Central is the disheartening sight of the abandoned General Electric plant on the east end, closely followed by the overwhelming chemical stench coming from the Essex plant on the west end of the area.