Cedar and Douglas fir, dipped in creosote or tar, were used to line core Vancouver streets in the city's early days. Workers repairing wood block paving at Pender and Main in downtown Vancouver in 1914. Then, end-grain wood blocks came into vogue, dipped in preservative and set like cobblestones in sand with a thin coating to protect the wood. Wood block paving was still used until the early 1920s, when concrete and then asphalt took over, said Atkin. "Wood blocks are kind of cool and everybody wants to see them, but they were never meant to be seen," he said.

Source: CBC News August 18, 2018 14:00 UTC