Old Ellsworth Park Footbridge
Brief History
Written by Mike Roegner
At the September 7, 1883 city council meeting, the city engineer was instructed to "have charge of and complete the work of building the foot-bridge across the North Fork, at Ellsworth Park, at once." And here it is - our forefathers were truly brave people.
The September 17, 1883 paper mentions that "the wire suspension bridge across the North Fork at Ellsworth Park was completed Saturday, and its strength was fully tested yesterday by hundreds of people."
It's been said, though I haven't seen it documented, that on at least one occassion the bridge was overloaded and turned over, dumping many of our fun-loving ancestors into the North Fork river - and a good time was had by all.
I have seen a photo of people standing on this bridge observing the construction of the 1907 bridge, so I know it lasted until 1907.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost suspension bridge over North Fork Vermilion River on pedestrian walkway in Danville
- Location
- Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois
- Status
- Replaced by new bridge
- History
- Built 1883 by a Danville City Engineer, replaced in 1907
- Design
- Wire suspension
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.12564, -87.63925 (decimal degrees)
40°07'32" N, 87°38'21" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/445533/4441898 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Danville NW
- Inventory number
- BH 46890 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Related Bridges
- Ellsworth Park Footbridge (Successor)
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/bh46890/