The “rat hole” has disappeared.
A Chicago sidewalk marker that some residents affectionately called the “rat hole” was removed Wednesday after city officials determined that the section that had an animal footprint on it was damaged and needed to be replaced, officials said. .
The seal has been a feature of a residential block in Chicago’s North Side’s Roscoe Village neighborhood for years, but it found new fame in January after a Chicago comedian shared a photo on the social platform X.
The attention, however, quickly grew old for neighbors who complained about visitors at all hours, sometimes leaving coins and other objects scattered on the sidewalk. Furthermore, most neighbors maintain that the footprint was actually made by a squirrel.
Erica Schroeder, spokeswoman for the Chicago Department of Transportation, said the square of sidewalk “containing the famous ‘Chicago rat hole’” is now in temporary storage.
He said where the sidewalk slab, which has an impression that resembles the outline of a rat (claws, tail and all), will eventually end up, is expected to be a “collaborative decision between city departments and the city office.” mayor”.
Schroeder said the rat hole section, as well as other parts of the sidewalk along Roscoe Street, were removed by Department of Transportation crews Wednesday morning after the agency inspected them and determined they needed to be replaced due to damage.
Georgina Ulrich, a neighbor, recorded video of crews using a concrete saw, a forklift and finally a truck to remove the slab and take it away.
“All this because of a rat print,” Ulrich said in one of the clips.
New concrete was poured later Wednesday, Schroeder said.
“The councilman’s office has definitely received complaints from neighbors about people gathering and putting a bunch of different objects in the public street there,” he told The Associated Press.
Councilman Scott Waguespack’s office had been receiving complaints for several months, both about that part of the sidewalk being uneven and about people congregating there to look at and photograph the rat hole, Paul Sajovec, chief of staff, said Wednesday. Waguespack staff.
“It was just a combination of the fact that the sidewalk was uneven and also that people would show up at different times of the day and night and make a lot of noise and create other issues and problems,” he said.
In January, someone filled the rat’s hole with a white plaster-like material, though fans quickly unearthed the impression, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.
Chicago resident Winslow Dumaine told the newspaper that people who live nearby said the footprint had been there for nearly two decades.
Callahan reported from Indianapolis.