Keep That Grin, and Strengthen Those Girth Rings!
Think back to the searing summers of the 1960s, when children played on the streets and bikes ruled the block. Neighbors were neighbors, and history brooded on every street corner. And oddities like metal rings — iron rings, brass rings — driven into the sidewalks. To some, they were a throwback to a different time: horse-drawn carriages parading through the streets of a slower, less complex city.
A Utility from the Past
It’s true, the horse rings really are what they appear to be, and they did, in fact, serve a very practical purpose, back in the 1800s. Those were the days when horses were the main form of transport and the dusty streets echoed constantly with hooves. Horsemen had tied their horses to these rings when they went about their business, in the early days. Even news stories in The Register-Guard from 1978 say some of those rings could be from the early 1900s. It’s impossible to be precisely sure how old they are, but the old roads imply a time when the city was laid out around the horse, not the car.
