Posted 1/13/2017

     Between 1860 and 1971, there have been three Erie Street Bridges (610 West: 670 North) over the North Branch Chicago River 1.9 miles from the river mouth.

     The first Erie Street Bridge opened in 1856.  It was a wood pontoon swing bridge hand operated.  In 1865, a flood swept the bridge away.  It was salvaged and rebuilt.  It was in service until 1971.

    The designer and contractor are unknown.  Construction costs were $5,000.

     The second bridge at this site opened April, 1871.  It was a swing wood hand operated structure.  It was 200 feet long and 32 feet wide.

     In 1889, the bridge turntable was rebuilt, the bridge house was relocated, the structure was repainted.  In 1895, the bridge floor was reinforced for street cars.  In 1899, the city made repairs after a crash with a steamer Charles Eddy.

     Contractors were:

Designer:                Fox and Howard

Construction:       Fox and Howard.

     Construction costs were $30,000.  The bridge collapsed under its own weight on May 18, 1908. 

     The third bridge at Erie Street opened on February, 1910.  It was an all steel electric powered double leaf bascule bridge.  It had only two support trusses.

     Contractors were

     Designer:           Division of Bridges and Viaducts City of Chicago 

      Superstructure Contractor:    King Bridge Company

       Substructure Contractors:     FitzSimons and Connell

     Construction Costs were $216,000.

    Bridge was removed on November, 1971

Photos added 4/11/2018

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     Written 1/11/2018

     Ogden Avenue crossed the North Branch Chicago River (950 West; 965 North) and the North Branch Canal (900 West; 1136 North) 2.9 miles from the river mouth.

     In 1924, a temporary pontoon swing bridge electric powered, steel through truss crossed the North Branch Chicago River at Ogden Avenue.  It was removed in 1931.

     On December 9, 1932, two steel double leaf bascle bridges opened–one over the North Branch Canal and one over the North Branch Chicago River at Ogden Avenue.  

     Contractors were:

Designer:                   Unknown

Construction: Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company

      Construction costs were$4.6 million.

     Closed in 1993; removed in 1994

     Various sections of East Ogden Avenue were West of the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Photos added 4/21/2018

     William Ogden was a well known entrepreneur in the Chicago area in the 1800’s.  He was born in Walton, New York in June of 1805..  He spent his early life in the New York area.  He served one term in the New York State Assembly in 1835.  

     He relocated to Chicago in 1835 and soon was involved in multiple projects.  He was a promoter and an investor in the Illinois Michigan Canal.  He developed the first swing bridge on the Chicago River.  He served one term as Chicago mayor 1837 to 1838.

  As one of the members of the Chicago Land Company, he pushed for purchase of a parcel of land east of the North Branch of the Chicago River near North Avenue in 1853.  Initially, the land was used as a source of clay for brick manufacture.  Ultimately, a channel was dug arising in the North from the Chicago River and extending South to again join the river.  The canal was completed in 1857.  It was 50 feet wide and 10 feet deep.  This project resulted in a man made island called Goose Island.

     As a principle in the Chicago Canal and Dock Company, he was responsible for development of Ogden’s slip.  This is a boat slip paralleling the Chicago River on the north.

     Ogden shifted his interest from water transportation to railroad.  He helped to establish a railroad link to the North Branch Chicago River.  He was instrumental in creating the Galena and Chicago Union Line.  He served on the board of the Missippi and Missouri R.R.  For a time, he was president of the Union Pacific RR.  

     In 1871, he lost most of his property in the Chicago Fire. He relocated to New York.  He died on August 3, 1877.

     Posted 1/7/2018

There is no current bridge at this site.   There was only one bridge at Blackhawk Street.   The  bridge crossed the North Branch Canal (1000 West; 1500 North) 3 miles from the Chicago River mouth. It opened in May, 1902.  The bridge superstructure was the old West Division Street Bridge.  It was a lost Pony truss, iron and wood, hand operated swing bridge.  It was 180 feet long and 29 feet wide.  City laborers repaired the sidewalks, fences, roadway, chord coverings; overhauled turntable spider rods,drums and locks;rehabbed the bridge house.  FitzSimons and Connell  built the substructure.  

Contractors were:

Design:                                               Fox and Howard

Superstructure Contractor:         Fox and Howard

Substructure Contractor:             FitzSimons and Connell.

Cost Unknown

     On June 2,1904, steamer Black Rock collided with the bridge.  Bridge was removed and rebuilt.  It was returned to operation on 12/1/1904.  Bridge was permanently removed April 9, 1910.

Photos added 4/11/2018

Posted 1/6/2017

There is no current bridge at this site. Weed Street (1050 West: 1550 North) crosses east to west over the North Branch Canal 3.2 miles from the river mouth. There have been two bridges at this site.

The first bridge at this site opened on June 24, 1891. The bridge was the first lost Harman folding lift bridge. It was made of iron and steel and was hand operated It was 150 feet long.

This was a bascule type bridge. It has two leaves. Both leaves had two independent areas of rotation. It was also known as a Jack knife bridge. It was plagued with problems because of its multiple moving parts.

Contractors:

Designer: Captain William Hartman

Construction: Shailer and Schniglau

Cost: $8,296

The bridge was closed in 1899. It remained out of service. It was removed in 1905.

The second bridge opened in 1905. It was a reused temporary wood hand operated pontoon swing bridge. It was formerly used at North Western Avenue. The approaches at Wood Street were rebuilt.

Contractors:

Designer: Division of Bridges and Viaducts City of Chicago.

Construction Contractor: Jackson and Corbett.

Costs are unknown.

Removed April, 1910. There has been no bridge since.

Photos added on 4/11/2018

    Published 12/8/2017

       Pennsylvania R.R. Bridge 458 crosses the South Branch of the Chicago River near Canal and Lumber Streets.  It crosses from North to south.  It was built in 1915 as a replacement for a swing bridge.

     It is a metal 10 panel rivet-connected Parker through Truss movable vertical lift bridge.   The main span measures 272.8 feet.  Total structure length is 387.8 feet.  Width measures 19.5 feet.  There are two tracks.  There is one main span and two approach spans.  At each end of the bridge are vertical towers 195 feet in height.  The movable span can be moved to provide 130 feet of clearance under the bridge.  This is the only remaining vertical lift bridge on the Chicago River.Bridge Contractors:  Builder/Contractor  Pennsylvania Steel Company of Shelton,PA.

Engineer Design Wadell  and Harrington.

     This bridge was originally owned by the Pennsylvania R.R.  It is currently owned by Amtrak.  It is also used by Metra and Norfolk Southern  R.R.

     There is a small house at top of the center span.  This functioned as the bridge tender house.  It also protects the operating equipment.   At the present time, the bridge is operated remotely from a R.R. switching tower at 14th and Lumber Streets.

    The bridge was designated as a national landmark on 12/12/2017.

There is currently no Rush Street Bridge over the Chicago River.    At one time, there were  four different bridges ( 1856–1920) at this site (365 North; 80 East).

The first bridge was built in 1856.  This was a replacement to a ferry service.   It was an all iron swing bridge; one of the first.    Type was Pratt Truss.  There were three trusses with two  roadways.  There were also pedestrian walkways.  The bridge was financed with  equal contributions of $18,000 by the city of Chicago and the Illinois Central and Galena and Chicago Union railroads.  The bridge was destroyed in 1863.  Twelve individuals and sixty head of cattle were pushed into the waters of the Chicago River.

Due to the importance of the Rush Street crossing, there was only a short interval between the destruction of bridge 1 and the construction of bridge 2.  The second bridge opened February 3, 1864.  Construction cost was $8,740.  Contractor was Fox and Howard.

The bridge was a wooden pivot bridge 211 feet long and 32 feet wide.  It had two carriage ways.    It was a two truss bridge.  The bridge was destroyed in 1871 during the Great Chicago Fire.

     The replacement bridge was built in 1872.  It was an iron Pratt truss hand operated  swing bridge.  It was the same length as the previous bridge and one foot wider.  It was designed by the Detroit Bridge Company.  Substructure Contractor was E. Sweet, Jr. and Company.  Cost was $54,000.   It was destroyed on November 22, 1883 by a collision involving the Schooner Grainger and a steam barge Business.

     A fourth bridge over the Chicago River at Rush Street was opened on July 22, 1984. Bridge was designed by Rush and Coolidge; they were also the superstructure contractor.   Substructure Contractor was Fitzsimmons and Connell.  Construction cost was $125,000.  

     The 657 ton bridge was an all iron Pratt Through Truss steam powered one. It was the second largest bridge built at this time.  It was the last iron swing bridge built by the city of Chicago.  It was 240 feet long and 59 feet wide.  During its life span, it underwent many updates.  In 1895, the steam power plant was removed and replaced by electric motors.  In 1899, the bridge was replanked. In 1909, 2 new ge motors were installed.  In 1907, danger signals were installed.The

     The 4 Rush Street Bridge was closed on 12/22/1920.

 

Photos added 4/14/2018

     Written 12/7/2017

Dan Ryan Expressway (I90/ I94; 700 West; 2400 South) runs North South through Chicago.  It crosses the South Branch Chicago River 4.3 miles from the river mouth.

     The Federal Highway Act of 1956 established the interstate highway system.  One of the roads in this system was the Soutwest highway (Dan Ryan Expressway).  There was a controversy about the nature of the bridge crossing the South Branch Chicago River.  One group wanted a bascule type of structure; the other argued for a fixed bridge.  The U.S. Army corps of engineers, U.S. Bureau of Public Roads, and the Secretary of the Army approved a fixed bridge.  It opened in 1965.

     It is a steel and reinforced concrete bridge.  The bridge length is 517 feet.  It is 174 feet wide.  There are 12 traffic lanes.  There are emergency walks on both both sides measuring 2.2 feet.  Bridge clearance is 60 feet.  The bridge was constructed by the American Bridge Company.  Cost was $1,178,566.