A Hajdú-Bihar Megyei Levéltár évkönyve 24. 1997 (Debrecen, 1997)
Tanulmányok - Simonyi Alfonz: A közlekedés és a kőutak Debrecenben a XIX. század végéig
172 Simonyi Alfonz: A közlekedés és a kőutak... TRANSPORT AND PAVED ROADS IN DEBRECEN TILL THE END OF THE 19™ CENTURY Alfonz Simonyi The market town of Debrecen, which came into existence through the building together of four villages, developed, round St Andrew's Church, a main market place, which became the town centre. This main market became elongated in north- south direction forming the high street called Piac Street. In the 14th century, branching out from this main street there were several side streets leading to the gates across the ditch representing the town's boundaries. In 1689 the town was granted the rank of a royal free borough with the relevant privileges, nevertheless, the town itself retained its rural appearance. The one-storied houses were topped with reed-thatched and shingle roofs. None of the roads had permanent solid pavement. Traffic was at times impossible because of the dust and mud covering the streets. In Debrecen's streets the material of the first "solid" pavement was wood from the municipal forests. This material was used to build, some time in the 17th century, the 322-fathom-long "Great Bridge" along the main street. This was the century when the post routes reaching Debrecen, too, were developed, however, this fact did not make the roads of the town any better. Because of certain historical circumstances urbanisation in Debrecen began only in the first years of the 17th century. Built roads — to be sure, only dirt roads — were constructed, draining ditches were dug in some streets and more and more stone houses were erected. A further development in urbanisation was the construction of covered sewers in Miklós and Piac Streets. This is why the Great Bridge was demolished and the street around the newly-built Great Church was paved with bricks. Across the River Hortobágy the Nine-Hole Stone-Bridge was erected. The wooden duck-boards over the walkways were replaced by brick pavement in more and more streets. According to eye-witnesses the streets of the town invariably had dirt roads, which were invariably impassable at times. A considerable event in the development of transport: in November 1857 the first steam-engine-drawn train arrived in Debrecen. In the years following 1850 the development of the city accelerated. Various factories were founded: a brick-yard and tiles factory, gas-works, a steam mill, a tobacco factory; in addition new railway lines were opened. In the years after the 1867 Compromise with the Hapsburgs, considerable changes took place in the state of the roads as well. The wooden bridges and duck-boards were gradually replaced by stone cover. The brick pavements had not proved good either and they also gave way to stone. The town authorities decided on four types of solid paving: quarry or natural stone, cyclopic stone, granite and later trachyte flagstone, and in the end, road metal (macadam). However, experience showed that quarry or natural stone was only suitable for subordinate roads, whereas for main streets and roads flagstone is commonly used. Nevertheless, as a first experiment, metalled roads were built at the beginning of Csapó, Hatvan and Német streets, joining Piac Street. In 1866 tenders were invited
