Cobblestone Streets
The Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy

Jersey City was once known for its cobblestone streets as pictured above on Holland Street. Today there are so few remaining that that the Landmarks Conservancy has worked to preserve the Holland Street cobbles, a former carriage road that slopes down the Palisades between Palisade Avenue and Paterson Plank Road. According to John Gomez, former president of the Conservancy, "Cobblestone consisted of either blue-tinted basalt blocks blasted locally from the Palisades or gem-encrusted granite imported from distance quarries" ("Hudson's Streets of Stone Link Us to Past." Jersey Journal 17 November 2004.)

Gomez also remarks how the cobbles were a sign of transportation advancement for Jersey City over other communities: "In the late 19th century, stone pavements (sometimes called 'specification blocks') were considered a sign of municipal prosperity and regarded as physical improvements tantamount to new fire hydrants, electric lamp poles, brick sewer lines and flagstone curbing."

Reference:

Gomez, John. "Hudson's Streets of Stone Link Us to Past." Jersey Journal 17 November 2004.

For a description with photographs of the Cobblestone Streets on the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy website, click on Cobblestone Streets.