Bricks saved: Cherry Valley trustees vote to preserve signature roadway

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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CHERRY VALLEY — The russet brick road that is a signature part of the character of the village of Cherry Valley has been saved.

Village trustees voted Tuesday to reverse course on previous plans to harvest bricks on East State Street between Lawrence and Van Buren streets and pave that roughly three-block stretch. The board voted 4-1 to change its street improvement contract with Rock Road Companies and eliminate the portion that called for removing the bricks.

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The decision comes after dozens of residents pushed back against the plan, including about 100 who attended a village Committee of the Whole meeting a week ago. Residents filled Village Hall again on Tuesday to make sure trustees followed through with a vote that preserved the bricks.

“Everybody knows the brick road in Cherry Valley,” said Lisa Murphy Baker, a Cherry Valley native who lives on the brick road. “Every small town has something, but Cherry Valley has that brick road.”

Murphy Baker said trustees should have communicated their plans better on a project as significant as removing a stretch of brick road. Once residents learned of the plan a little over a week ago, they scrambled to make sure trustees heard how important it was to them to preserve the entire stretch.

The board had initially decided to remove the three-block stretch of brick road because of the difficulty it has had to locate the type of bricks needed for parts of the road that require repair. Those repairs, which are done with bricks placed by hand, can be difficult and costly. By harvesting the bricks, the village would be able to use materials from the three-block stretch being paved to preserve and replace other portions of the road. That’s why Trustee Mike Neville said he voted to stick with plans to harvest the stretch of brick roads.

“We’ve been running ourselves all over creation trying to find bricks to no avail,” Neville said. “I had some citizens approach me that felt we were going in the right direction, somebody has to represent those people as well.”

Village Administrator Jim Claeyssen said the village will not have to pay any penalty for changing its contract with Rock Road Companies because the brick work was not slated to begin until after Labor Day.

“We listened to the people. We’re going to leave that road entirely intact from Lawrence Street all the way up to the bridge,” Claeyssen said. “The public has spoken, they’ve reacted. We’re moving forward.”

The village last made repairs to its brick road in 2017. There are a limited number of contractors who do that work, which requires laying each brick by hand, Claeyssen said.

“We have some bricks still left over from 2017, but we’re going to be scouring around,” he said.

John Baker said the brick road was a standout feature the first time he visited his wife’s hometown.

“The first time Lisa brought me to her hometown I fell in love with it,” he said. “It’s got a very unique charm to it: it’s the brick road, it’s the small shops, the restaurants, the village, the homes.”

But among all those features, it’s the bricks that set the village apart, Baker said.

The couple has a 12-foot decorative skeleton, and other smaller skeletons, in its front yard along East State Street that are themed for different holidays as the seasons change. But last week the skeletons got a new decoration, a sign that reads “save the bricks.”

After Tuesday’s vote, the couple says it will have a new update to its decoration. The sign will now read:

Congratulations, you saved the bricks.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct John Baker’s name.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas