ALLEYS

This alley ran behind Treanor's Dairy in downtown Dubuque.

ALLEYS. An alley or alleyway is a narrow, pedestrian lane found in urban areas which usually runs between or behind buildings. Alleys may be paved or simply dirt tracks. A blind alley with no outlet at one end is a cul-de-sac.

In the United States alleys exist for both service purposes and automobile access in both older commercial and residential areas. In residential areas, primarily those built before 1950, alleys provide rear access to property where a garage was located, or where waste could be collected by service vehicles. A benefit of this was the location of these activities to the rear, less public side of a dwelling. By 1950 they had largely disappeared from development plans for new homes. Chicago, Illinois has about 1,900 miles of alleyways making it the largest network of alleyways in the world.

In 1903 businessmen and merchants in the business district of Dubuque began considering the advantages of having incandescent lights placed in alleys running behind their properties. The plan was to wire the alleys on both sides of Main Street from Second to Eleventh street. Three lamps of "16 candle power" each would be placed in every block. This, it was felt, would give enough light to policemen to see what was happening. Police had argued that due to the large boxes stacked in the alleys and the darkness that it was impossible to see.