Milwaukee Movable Bridges

The story of the bridges in downtown Milwaukee is a story of resolving conflict and finding ways to solve problems.

Milwaukee actually had three founders who developed their own communities that all rivaled one another. Rivers made natural boundaries in those heady days, so Byron Kilbourn built Kilbourntown on the west side of the Milwaukee River and north of the Menomonee. Solomon Juneau built Juneautown east of the Milwaukee River and the community of Walker's Point was south of the Menomonee River, it was the original location of George Walker's fur trading post.

The rivalry between Juneau and Kilbourn was so intense that they made a point of making sure their street grids did not line up, perhaps trying to discourage the inevitable linking of the two communities by bridge. Today's downtown bridges all cross the river askew to line up with Juneau's and Kilbourn's legacy of mis-aligned streets.

In 1845, the Chestnut Street Bridge went up, a wooden structure that stood where the Juneau Avenue bridge stands today. It blocked Kilbourn's critical river access to Lake Michigan, a requirement for shipping goods in and out. Kilbourn discouraged bridges as a way to keep residents of Juneautown dependent on Kilbourn, he saw the bridge as a threat and wanted to destroy it. Armed residents lined up on both sides of the river.

The resulting Bridge War did not cause any fatalities but there were some serious injuries. Kilbourn did manage to destroy part of the bridge, but it was quickly rebuilt.

Eventually, Kilbourn, Juneau and Walker agreed that they were not encouraging settlement and reached an agreement. In 1846, the three communities merged and incorporated as the City of Milwaukee, 2 years prior to Wisconsin Statehood.

In order to keep the river open for navigation, a bascule bridge was built for State Street in 1924. It was the first bascule bridge in Milwaukee, and some claim it was the first bascule bridge built anywhere.

While several of Milwaukee's charming bascule bridges have been destroyed and replaced by lift bridges, some effort is being made to restore rather than destroy. The Buffalo Street bridge was torn out and not replaced, but it lives on in scenes of a movie called "Gaily, Gaily" a 1969 Norman Jewison film that used the bridge for location shots.

The State Street Bridge was recently beautifully restored and one could speculate that it looks better than it ever did. The most unusual Art Deco design of the Cherry Street Bridge has also been preserved. The new McKinley Avenue lift bridge pays homage to what went before, in Milwaukee's colorful bridge-spanning past.