The story traces the history of the titular street in a
New England city from its first beginnings as "but a path" in colonial times to a quasi-supernatural occurrence in the years immediately following
World War I. As the city grows up around the street, it is planted with many trees and built along with "simple, beautiful houses of brick and wood", each with a rose garden. As the
Industrial Revolution runs its course, the area degenerates into a run-down and polluted
slum, with all of the street's old houses falling into disrepair. After World War I and the
October Revolution, the area becomes home to a community of Russian immigrants. Among the new residents is the leadership of a "vast band of terrorists," who are plotting the destruction of the United States on
Independence Day. When the day arrives, the terrorists gather to do the deed, but before they can get started, all the houses in the street collapse concurrently on top of each other, killing them all. Observers at the scene testify that immediately after the collapse, they experienced visions of the trees and rose gardens that had once been in the street. ==Inspiration==