Chicago River Bascule Bridges, Spanning Chicago River & its north & south branches, Chicago, Cook County, IL

Significance: The development of the Chicago trunnion bascule bridge occurred during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Despite the controversy over patent infringement Joseph E. Strauss charged the City of Chicago engineers with infringing on his patented Strauss-Trunion bascule bridge the Chicago bascule received great acclaim within the civil engineering profession. // Between 1865 and 1890, the City of Chicago built 55 movable highway bridges over waterways within municipal limits. All were center-pier swing spans. Despite its ubiquity, the swing span was not universally admired. Its critics pointed to the fact that the center-pier design was becoming a navigational hazard for the ever-larger vessels of the late nineteenth century.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N642

Survey number: HAER IL-111

Building/structure dates: 1900 Initial Construction

beaux arts architectural elements bridge construction vehicular bridges chicago bascule bridges chicago river bascule bridges chicago river branches cook county bridge illinois chicago bridge division chicago department of transportation richard m daley department of public works jeffrey a hess historic american engineering record s l kaderbek jet lowe thomas r walker photo ultra high resolution high resolution cityscape detroit publishing company photograph collection library of congress

1900

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html