Paving the streets of Middletown

February 10, 1911  Friday    Middletown News-Signal, Middletown, Ohio
BROADWAY
What Will Be The Paving Material
  The paving of Broadway is now under consideration. The situation is much as it was on Main street and Yankee road about the time these streets were to be paved. Some of the people were fooled as to material. Particularly was this the case on Yankee road which was saved from being paved with brick just in the nick of time. A brick street is noisy filthy, and always look ugly by comparison with an asphalt street. The nice homes on Broadway, and they are almost all beautiful, should jealously guard the immediate environment. To put a brick street would cause them to regret it as long as they lived.
  Property stands out clean and clear with a white street like Yankee road, free from the odor that emanates from the filth that settles between bricks and from the noise that is a source of annoyance day and night and especially in the summer when houses are open.
  It is probable that it is now too late to save the street from what it is said the council intends to do to it. True, brick is cheaper, but the difference is not great enough to prevent asphalt being adopted in preference to the coarser material.
  Woodblock is fine, but it is an experiment and may swell and rear up and push even the sidewalks into the cellar.
  But asphalt is the material for paving and should be adopted.
  It is said that a petition is now being circulated for asphalt or wood block, but tonight the council will say what material will be placed on the street.

February 13, 1911  Monday    Middletown News-Signal, Middletown, Ohio
MORE ASPHALT
Wanted By The People Living On Good Streets In This City
  Lakeside people are waking up to the fact, that, possessed of one of the most beautiful drives in the city of Middletown, Tytus avenue should not be marred by inferior paving material and will make their desires known, to the council committee, having the question in charge.
  The little difference between the cost of asphalt and brick, the superiority of the former over the latter, in its appearance, its cleanliness, and from a sanitary standpoint, as well as its effect on the value of abutting property, gives it a preference far above any other material.
  A street paved with brick is always considered secondary to asphalt street. It gives it a cheap appearance and effects the value of the property, and the owners do a great injustice to themselves when with beautiful homes on which they are spending their labor and money to give them a fine appearance they permit the laying of an inferior street to mar the comfort and value of their property.
  The people of Lakeside appreciate this fact and are preparing to present their claims for the better material to the council. The facts are that Main street and Broad street should be paved with asphalt throughout.