A street is a piece of land, which is paved enabling people to travel on it. We often use the words "street" and "road" for the same thing, but really a road's main function is transportation, while streets are generally located in urban areas with the intention of facilitating public interaction and are usually lined with houses or other buildings.
The word street has its origins in the Latin strata (meaning "paved road" - abbreviation from via strata).
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| Pixiebay |
HISTORY
The word street has its origins in the Latin strata (meaning "paved road" - abbreviation from via strata).
On August 23, 1617 the first one way streets were established in London. The city's narrow streets had become so congested that an Act was passed to regulate "disorder and rude behaviour of Carmen, Draymen and others using carts" by making 17 alleys around Thames Street one-way.
A link-boy was a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians walking streets at night. Linkboys were common in London in the days before street lighting. The linkboy's fee was commonly one farthing, and the torch was often made from burning pitch and tow.
The first gas street lamps were erected in London's Pall Mall in 1807. They were lit each night and extinguished in the morning by lamplighters. At first many passers-by feared they would be burnt if they touched the lamp posts.
Since 1858, all new streets containing terraced houses in the United Kingdom have been at least 36 feet (11 m) wide.
The first street in the world to be lit by electric light bulbs was Mosley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1879.
The first electric street lights ever installed by a municipality were turned on in Wabash, Indiana in 1880.
One of the world's first permanent one-way streets was enforced in St James's Street, Nottingham, England in 1924. As there was at the time no legal traffic signs, a banner was hung across the street saying "One-way traffic- no road this way".
The first automatic street light was installed in New Milford, Connecticut in 1949.
For many years the steepest street in the world was reckoned to be Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand with a 38% incline (a gradient of 1:2.86).
In 2019, The Guinness Book of Records named Ffordd Pen Llech, which snakes through the North Wales town of Harlech as the world's steepest street. Ffordd Pen Llech has a gradient of 1:2.67 (37.45% stretch over fall). That means those travelling on the street go 1 m up (or down) for every 2.67 m travelled horizontally.
London's Oxford Street is Europe's longest high street at 1.5 miles.
For many years, the Guinness Book of World Records erroneously named Toronto's Yonge Street as the longest street in the world, stretching 1,896 kilometres (1,178 mi) north from Lake Ontario. In fact, Yonge Street is only 86 kilometres long. The longest street record seems now to be up for grabs.
The most common street name in the U.S. is "Second Street." 'First' is in fact the third most common. Third is the second with Fifth being the sixth most common.
At just 2.05m (6ft 9in) long, the record for the shortest street is held by Ebenezer Place in Wick, Scotland. It has just one address, the front door of No 1 Bistro, part of Mackays Hotel.
Oscar Wilde, Robert Falcon Scott, David Bowie, and Bob Marley all lived at one time or another in Oakley Street, which runs roughly north to south from Chelsea's King's Road to the crossroads with Cheyne Walk and the River Thames.
Streets are almost always wet in movies. This is because wet pavement is photogenic and the water diffuses reflections and helps eliminate shadows caused by filming equipment and light sources.
South Africa is the only country in the world to have two Nobel Peace Prize winners, who had homes on the same street.
Vilakazi Street in Soweto was where both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu resided.
Source Zululandobserver
A link-boy was a boy who carried a flaming torch to light the way for pedestrians walking streets at night. Linkboys were common in London in the days before street lighting. The linkboy's fee was commonly one farthing, and the torch was often made from burning pitch and tow.
The first gas street lamps were erected in London's Pall Mall in 1807. They were lit each night and extinguished in the morning by lamplighters. At first many passers-by feared they would be burnt if they touched the lamp posts.
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| A Peep at the Gas Lights in Pall Mall Rowlandson 1809. |
Since 1858, all new streets containing terraced houses in the United Kingdom have been at least 36 feet (11 m) wide.
The first street in the world to be lit by electric light bulbs was Mosley Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1879.
The first electric street lights ever installed by a municipality were turned on in Wabash, Indiana in 1880.
One of the world's first permanent one-way streets was enforced in St James's Street, Nottingham, England in 1924. As there was at the time no legal traffic signs, a banner was hung across the street saying "One-way traffic- no road this way".
The first automatic street light was installed in New Milford, Connecticut in 1949.
FUN STREET FACTS
For many years the steepest street in the world was reckoned to be Baldwin Street in Dunedin, New Zealand with a 38% incline (a gradient of 1:2.86).
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| House at Baldwin Street, Dunedin. Andy king50 Wikipedia |
In 2019, The Guinness Book of Records named Ffordd Pen Llech, which snakes through the North Wales town of Harlech as the world's steepest street. Ffordd Pen Llech has a gradient of 1:2.67 (37.45% stretch over fall). That means those travelling on the street go 1 m up (or down) for every 2.67 m travelled horizontally.
London's Oxford Street is Europe's longest high street at 1.5 miles.
For many years, the Guinness Book of World Records erroneously named Toronto's Yonge Street as the longest street in the world, stretching 1,896 kilometres (1,178 mi) north from Lake Ontario. In fact, Yonge Street is only 86 kilometres long. The longest street record seems now to be up for grabs.
The most common street name in the U.S. is "Second Street." 'First' is in fact the third most common. Third is the second with Fifth being the sixth most common.
At just 2.05m (6ft 9in) long, the record for the shortest street is held by Ebenezer Place in Wick, Scotland. It has just one address, the front door of No 1 Bistro, part of Mackays Hotel.
 |
| Ebenezer Place, Wick, Scotland. Noudbijvoet. Wikipedia |
Oscar Wilde, Robert Falcon Scott, David Bowie, and Bob Marley all lived at one time or another in Oakley Street, which runs roughly north to south from Chelsea's King's Road to the crossroads with Cheyne Walk and the River Thames.
Streets are almost always wet in movies. This is because wet pavement is photogenic and the water diffuses reflections and helps eliminate shadows caused by filming equipment and light sources.
South Africa is the only country in the world to have two Nobel Peace Prize winners, who had homes on the same street.
Vilakazi Street in Soweto was where both Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu resided.
Source Zululandobserver
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