16th Street Swing Bridge

Photos 

Map 

Description 

The original Stone Arch Bridge was constructed in 1868-69, and provided access from Lockport to the western part of Will County and to Kendall County. The bridge has seven arches of approximately 28 feet each, and was built of local limestone. As constructed, the bridge also had stone parapets measuring about 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 feet high. The piers are reinforced with stone buttresses which, in turn, are protected by timbers from ice floes, barges, etc. The opening of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and the concern about possible flooding led to alterations in about 1903. The Chicago S&S Canal was extended for an additional three miles, and dikes constructed along either side so the canal could be raised as much as fifteen feet above the surrounding area. The embankment was of concrete, with an earthen fill. The parapets on the bridge were removed, and the grade of the crossing raised with poured concrete. The arches remain intact.

-- Historic American Engineering Record

Categories 

Bobtail Swing Bridge (23) Built 1905 (755) Built during 1900s (6,741) HAER documented (1,103) Illinois (4,441) Isham Randolph (5) Lost (21,670) Lost 1993 (447) Lost during 1990s (3,831)

Movable (2,833) Navigable waterway (2,090) Pratt through truss (4,933) Pratt truss (8,624) Swing (1,351) Through truss (13,906) Truss (31,044) Will County, Illinois (134)

Update Log 

• February 4, 2015: HAER photos posted by James Baughn
• May 14, 2013: Added by Frank Hicks

Sources 

• Frank Hicks
• Lewis University Slide Collection - Division Street Swing Bridge, 1976
• Douglas Butler
• HAER IL-16-D - Lockport Historic District, Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, Swing Bridge, Sixteenth Street, Lockport, Will County, IL

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