Rating:
2 votes

General Dean Suspension Bridge

Clinton County, Illinois

Photos 

Overview

Photo taken June 2006 by Bradley J Williams

BH Photo #102149

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Suspension bridge over Kaskaskia River at Fairfax Street in Carlyle
Location
Clinton County, Illinois
Status
Open to pedestrians only
History
Built 1859
Builders
- Alesghem & Sons Rope Co.
- Griffith D. Smith
Design
Wire suspension
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on April 3, 1973
Also called
Carlyle Suspension Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.61135, -89.35725   (decimal degrees)
38°36'41" N, 89°21'26" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/294756/4276284 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Carlyle
Inventory numbers
NRHP 73000693 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 15075 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (7,631)
Alesghem & Sons Rope Co. (1)
Built 1859 (26)
Built during 1850s (412)
Clinton County, Illinois (32)
Griffith D. Smith (1)
Have street view (27,073)
 Illinois (4,688)
Kaskaskia River (35)
NR-listed (2,962)
Open to pedestrians (4,253)
Owned by city (5,480)
Suspension (711)
Wire/cable Suspension (142)

Update Log 

  • January 18, 2019: New photo from GS
  • January 17, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
  • August 22, 2017: New photos from Steve Conro
  • January 1, 2017: New photos from David Huffman
  • February 27, 2014: New photos from Jack Schmidt
  • January 14, 2011: New Street View added by Kim Harvey
  • May 2, 2010: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Changed to Official name and added builders
  • December 6, 2008: New photos from James Baughn
  • November 19, 2008: New photos from Kim Harvey
  • August 21, 2006: Posted photo from Bradley J Williams

Sources 

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Comments 

General Dean Suspension Bridge
Posted January 18, 2019, by Daniel

Would the brick ever have been visible? The report Don posted says they were plastered with cement mortar. That's from 1936.

I wonder why the bridge cost 5 times what it was supposed to.

General Dean Suspension Bridge
Posted January 18, 2019, by Don Morrison

HABS has info on construction materials and says 45,000 dollars was the price.

http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/il/il0100/il0143/data...

General Dean Suspension Bridge
Posted January 17, 2019, by Nathan Holth (webmaster [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

It looks like quite a bit of this bridge is not original. I wonder if the original brick remains behind the concrete? The original ornamentation shown at the top of the towers in 1936 photos is missing in the 1971 photos, yet magically reappears in present day photos. Anchorages appear all-new. Cable saddles are modern.

General Dean Suspension Bridge
Posted January 17, 2019, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

It looks like the original estimate was around $9,000 and there were some shenanigans that led to the actual cost being estimated as five times the original estimate. The 1881 book describes this on page 85.

General Dean Suspension Bridge
Posted January 17, 2019, by Daniel

$40,000 in 1859 doesn't sound right. Maybe that's inflation adjusted to when the sign went up in 1976?

Carlyle Suspension Bridge
Posted June 4, 2009, by Bill Little (PianomanBill [at] Hotmail [dot] com)

Great historic photos of the General Dean Bridge, nos. 8,9,10. Just a couple quick corrections to the captions, however. Photo #8 is described as "View From North-East"; actually it appears to have been taken from the south, looking north-northeast (the old river channel is seen curving eastward to the north of the bridge). #9 is described as a "View From South-West"; actually it's looking southwest from a vantage point to the northeast (old power plant on west river bank south of the bridge is easily seen). #10 is described as being of the "East End"; actually it's the west end looking northeast. I resided a number of years in Carlyle and lived 2 1/2 blocks west of the bridge on Fairfax Ave.