These pictures from the past show how our townscape of today evolved.
The gallery is filled with photos of workmen building, fixing, checking, putting up scaffolding and road laying across Southend.
Experimenting - workmen lay a trial piece of rubber paving in London Road
The photos give us an insight into what Southend was like almost 100 years ago as all the photos come from the 1920s.
New cinema - scaffolding surrounds the new Plaza cinema in Southchurch in 1929. The venue would open a week later
A few are from the Kursaal in its golden age and show workmen carrying out safety checks on the popular bowl slide ride. Another shows the groundwork being laid for the new dodgem track at the amusement park.
Amusement- laying the foundation for the new dodgem attraction at the Kursaal
Images also show building work taking place on the borough’s churchs, schools and roads as well as an extension to our world famous pier.
Beach scene- Building new breakwaters at Thorpe Bay
Improvements - widening and re-surfacing the Southend to Hadleigh Road
Road- work to build the Tilbury- Purfleet Arterial Road is carried out in 1925- today this is the site of Lodge Lane in Grays
Paint job - a workman spray paints a building in Southend. This was one of the first times a spray painting machine had been used in the town.
Work starts - laying the foundations for Westcliff High School in 1924
A study in scaffold poles - building Crowstone Congregational Church gets underway
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