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CA&E - Chicago River Bridge

Cook County, Illinois

Photos 

Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway bridge

1911 - View of Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway Company elevated bascule bridge over the Chicago River between West Van Buren Street and West Jackson Boulevard in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. An elevated train is crossing the bridge in this image.

Chicago Daily News negatives collection, DN-0056530. Courtesy of Chicago History Museum.

BH Photo #233524

Map 

Description 

This bridge - actually a pair of double-track bridges side by side - was the very first Scherzer rolling lift bridge ever designed. It was designed by William Scherzer just prior to his death in July 1893 and was constructed in 1895 at the same time as the adjacent Van Buren Street bridge, a Scherzer rolling lift bridge designed after William Scherzer's death. -- Info from HAER Report MA-35, Fort Point Channel Rolling Lift Bridge

Facts 

Overview
Lost Pony truss bridge over Chicago River on Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad
Location
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Removed but not replaced
History
Built 1895 for Metropolitan-West Side Elevated Railroad, removed ca 1958 after the CA&E folded in 1957
Builder
- Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois
Railroads
- Chicago Rapid Transit Company (CRT)
- Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad (CA&E)
- Interurban
- Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad (Met; MWSER)
- Rapid Transit
Design
Truss bascule
Also called
MWSER - Chicago River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.87755, -87.63769   (decimal degrees)
41°52'39" N, 87°38'16" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/447087/4636377 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Chicago Loop
Inventory number
BH 52688 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (7,381)
Bascule (1,050)
Built 1895 (270)
Built during 1890s (2,936)
Chicago Rapid Transit Company (5)
Chicago River (41)
Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad (19)
Chicago, Illinois (323)
Cook County, Illinois (448)
First of its kind (30)
Illinois (4,596)
Interurban (902)
 Lost (24,044)
Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad (4)
Movable (2,914)
Navigable waterway (2,132)
Pratt through truss (5,305)
Pratt truss (9,164)
Railroad (15,222)
Rapid Transit (111)
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. (123)
Through truss (14,827)
Truss (32,399)

Update Log 

  • May 26, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added photograph
  • August 13, 2014: New photo from Luke
  • July 17, 2014: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Chicago, Aurora & Elgin Railroad", "Interurban"
  • July 25, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "First of its kind"
  • August 13, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "Railroad"
  • July 17, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad"
  • June 18, 2012: Added by Frank Hicks

Sources 

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Comments 

CA&E - Chicago River Bridge
Posted October 19, 2017, by Anonymous

Built for Metropolitan West Side Elevated, not CA&E, which came in on trackage rights after 1907. Abandoned and removed after Chicago transit Authority abandoned this portion of Elevated June 1958