A Chicago sidewalk landmark some residents affectionately referred to as the “rat hole” has been removed after city officials decided it was damaged and needed to be replaced.

The sidewalk, which had an impression that looked like the outline of a rat with claws and a tail, had been present in Chicago’s North Side neighbourhood of Roscoe Village for years. It found fresh fame in January after a Chicago comedian shared a photo on the social platform X.

The attention, however, attracted complaints from neighbours who said that people were visiting at all hours, sometimes leaving coins and other items scattered across the area.

Erica Schroeder, a spokesperson for the Chicago department of transportation, said the square of sidewalk “containing the famous ‘Chicago rat hole’” is now in temporary storage.

Schroeder said the rat hole section, as well as other portions of sidewalk along Roscoe Street, were removed by department of transportation crews on Wednesday morning after the agency inspected them and determined they needed to be replaced because of damage.

She said that where the slab of sidewalk with the rat impression will eventually end up is expected to be a “collaborative decision between the city departments and the mayor’s office”.

The Alderman, Scott Waguespack, had been receiving complaints for several months, both about that portion of sidewalk being uneven and people congregating there to look at and photograph the rat hole, Paul Sajovec, Waguespack’s chief of staff, said Wednesday.

“It was just a combination of the fact that the sidewalk was uneven and also that people would show up at various times of the day and night and make a lot of noise and create other issues and problems,” he said.

In January, someone filled in the rat hole with a material resembling white plaster, although the impression was quickly dug out by fans, the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.

Chicago resident Winslow Dumaine told the newspaper that people living nearby said the imprint had been there for nearly two decades.

Georgina Ulrich, a neighbour, shot video of crews using a concrete saw, a forklift and finally a truck to remove the slab and drive it away.

“All this for a rat imprint,” Ulrich said in one of the clips.

New concrete was poured later Wednesday, Schroeder said.