The first brick street in the United States began being built on October 23, 1870 and finished in 1873. What American city holds the distinction of the first brick street?

As a state, West Virginia has had many “firsts.” One of those is being home to the first brick-paved street in the United States.

According to the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, in 1870 a Charleston man by the name of Mordecai Levi had an idea that would improve the hard-packed dirt streets of the city.

Levi wanted something that wouldn’t turn to mud in the Spring like dirt roads would. As the Division of Culture and History explained, this was a time when horses and carriages were popular and automobiles were decades away. So on October 23, 1870 Levi experimented with brick roads by paving Summers Street in Charleston. He finished the block in 1873.

It should be noted it is not the first brick road in the world. That distinction belongs to India circa 3000 BC.