5540-60 North Marine Drive

This is a 203 unit high rise apartment building. It was built in 1939. The style was art deco. It was Chicago’s first all electric apartment building.

This is a pair of bridges over the Illinois River on US 36/I 72 near Valley City.

Valley City Twin Eagles Bridges

These bridges are concrete deck girder bridges. They are made with prestressed concrete. They were built in 1988.

There are two lanes in the east bound and west bound bridges.

Valley City Twin Eagles Bridges.

Both bridges are 11.89 m in diameter. The east bound bridge is 1015 m in length. The west bound is 986 m in length.

Valley City Twin Eagle Bridges

The Scott W. Lucas Bridge crosses the Illinois River on IL 361/IL 78/ IL 97 at Havana. It is a cantilevered Warren Through truss bridge.

Scott W. Lucas Bridge

This bridge wa built in 1936. It was rehabbed in 1998.

Scott W. Lucas Bridge

The bridge was named for Scott W. Lucas, a former US senator.

Same as above

     Largest bridge span is 420 feet.  Total bridge length is 1,727.1 feet.  Deck width is 28.5 feet.

Florence Bridge over Illinois River

     This bridge crosses the Illinois River on IL 100/IL 106 in Florence.  

Florence Bridge over the Illinois

    This bridge was built in 1929.  It is a vertical lift Parker through truss.  It was rehabbed in 1981.

Florence Bridge over the Illinois River

     The largest span measured 216.8 feet.  The total length is 3177.3 feet.  The deck width is 23.0 feet.

Murray Baker Bridge

The Murray Baker Bridge carries I 74 over the Illinois River near Peoria, Illinois

The bridge was built in 1958. The building/contractor is unknown.

The bridge type is metal cantilever rivet-connected Warren through truss fixed and approach spans; metal stringer (multi-beam), fixed. There are 5 main spans and 8 approach spans.

Main span length is 600 feet. Structure length is 3036 feet. Roadway width is 55 feet (unusual for this type of bridge)

The Bridge was rehabbed in 2005.

     The bridge was closed beginning March, 2020 for 7 months for a $42 million rehab.

The original Meredosia Bridge over the Illinois River on Illinois 104 between Pike County and and the city of Meredosia was built in 1936. It was a metal continuous rivet connected Warren through truss fixed and approach spans. It was rehabbed in 1984 and later was demolished and replaced in 2018.

The original Meredosia Bridge

The replacement was a two lane tied arch bridge.

New Meredosia Bridge

McClugage Bridge over the Illinois River

McClugage Bridge over the Illinois River

     The McClugage Bridges are a pair of cantilevered Warren through truss bridges over the Illinois River on US 24/US 150 in Peoria.   The two bridges carry four lanes of traffic.  The east bound bridge was built in 1948.  The west bound bridge was built in 1982.

     The largest span measured 535.9 feet

     The bridge length is 47438.8 feet

     The deck width is 28.8 feet.

Lacon Bridge Plaque

Lacon Bridge

Lacon Bridge

The Lacon Bridge is a continuous through truss bridge crossing the Illinois River on IL 17 at Lacon, Illinois. The bridge is open to two lane traffic. The bridge was built in 1939. It was rehabbed in 1990.

The largest span is 377.8 feet.

Total bridge length is 1572.7 feet.

Deck width is 26.2 feet.

Third Coliseum

Site of Third Coliseum

     In the history of Chicago, there were three buildings that bore the name Chicago Coliseum.

     The first was located at State and Washington Streets in the 1860’s.  This was in the downtown region.  History of the building is unclear as to its opening and closing.   It apparently hosted various events such as horse shows, boxing masses and circus acts.

     The second colosseum building was located on the south side of Chicago in the Woodlawn neighborhood.  Construction began  in 1895 on a 14 acre site of the Columbian Exposition.   However,on August 22nd, the incomplete structure collapsed and construction had to restart.  The building was 300 by 700 feet.  Building required 2.5 million pounds of steel, 3.2 million feet of lumber and and 3 million bricks.  It was completed in 1896.  Building was twice as large as Madison Square Garden. The facility had 7 acre of interior space.

  Buffalo Wild West Show was the first event at the facility in July, 1896.   It hosted the Democratic convention in October, 1896.  The facility was used in multiple college football games.  It hosted trade show, bicycle races, agricultural exhibitions.

     In December, 1897, the building was destroyed in a massive fire.

     At the site of the third Coliseum (1513 South Wabash Avenue), Charles Gunther originally  built a structure known as the Libby Prison War Museum( a collection of Civil War memorabilia) in 1889.  The interesting thing about this structure is that it was previously  a southern Civil War Prison in Richmond, Virginia.  Gunther arranged for it to be deconstructed, shipped by train to Chicago and reassembled.  After 10 years, Gunther tore the building down except for the castellated front wall.  This was incorporated into the new 3rd Coliseum Building in 1899.  The architects were Frost and Granger.   The capacity was 14,000.

     During its existence, the Coliseum sponsored, political conventions, sporting events, concerts, roller derbies, religious events, and bowling tournaments.

     On March 13, 1971, the city of Chicago closed the Coliseum because of fire code violations.  In 1982, the building was sold for redevelopment, which unfortunately never happened.  It was eventually demolished in the 1990’s.