The famous Cast-iron pavement has been preserved in Kronstadt only on the Anchor Square and the Penkov Bridge. This is the only place in Russia where you can see such a road surface. Roads covered with cast-iron round tiles were common in the 19th century in the USA. In Russia, as in other European countries, there was stone pavement on the roads.
Before the advent of asphalt, smooth and durable road surface has always been a big problem. The stone pavement did not require frequent repairs; however, movement along such a road was not comfortable. In the USA, in the middle of the 19th century, engineer Knapp came up with the idea of covering roads with cast-iron round tiles. Movement on them was much smoother than on the stone pavement. Such pavements existed in New York, Boston and Chicago.
In 1858, the manager of the Kronstadt Steamship Plant, Alexander Sokolov, visited America, where he saw cast-iron pavements. He became interested in this technology and brought samples of round tiles to Russia. The first round tiles were made at the factory, which Sokolov managed. He ordered to lay out the courtyard of the Steamship Plant with them.
The first battleships for the navy were built at the plant, so the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich often visited the plant. He highly appreciated the cast-iron pavement in the yard of the plant and ordered to lay out a Penkov bridge with heavy traffic with cast-iron round tiles. These tests were also very successful.
In the period from 1860 to 1880, cast-iron pavements appeared in many places of Kronstadt. 20 years later, after the appearance of cast-iron pavements in Kronstadt, officials from St. Petersburg inquired about the condition of the pavement. The city authorities of Kronstadt replied to them that "all sections of the pavements have not been repaired since the day of the paving and are in good condition." Despite the high cost of cast-iron pavements, they turned out to be the most economically profitable, since they did not require repair.
During the WWII, the shells of mines were made of cast-iron road tiles, so they were remelt. Only two sections of the Cast-iron Pavement of Kronstadt have survived to this day: one on the Anchor Square, and the other on the Penkov Bridge. Several 19th-century round tiles have been preserved on the bridge, and almost all the tiles on the Anchor Square were restored in the 20th century. In Europe and in the USA, cast-iron pavements have practically not been preserved.
