It is a bit of a local legend around these parts, Charleston, WV to be precise. That our humble town is home to the longest city block in America. The 1500 block of Charleston is two full blocks long divided by court’s and walk’s but no drivable cross streets. The reasoning for this particular quirk is not geographic like many similar ones in West Virginia but political.
The section in particular was a family estate belonging to the Ruffner’s. They had made their fortune in the salt industry and where key figures in the early days of Charleston. The parcel was given to the city in such a way that the planned streets did not line up. As a result the blocks were developed as one continuous set. Every address number is used 1500-1599 on Washington Street. So if an additional property were built that necessitated it’s own street number I am not sure what would be done. Charleston is shrinking so it is unlikely it will be a problem anytime soon.
Even the people I have heard tell me this add… “Well, we don’t know if that is true or not”. I will say that looking online about it all I could find was Salt Lake City’s claim to the longest city “blocks” as in overall average.
Either way just a fun story I wanted to share with you while you Ride With Me!
https://youtu.be/XzqOOyRcQeY
Visibility: Sunny
Destinations in West Virginia: by order of appearance
Alum Creek
South Charleston (4:24)
Jefferson (23:00)
Saint Albans (27:00)
Charleston (1:04:00)
Downtown – Southside Bridge – Charleston Newspaper Building – Longest Block in America? (1500 block of Virginia Street East)
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