1895 Metropolitan "L" Bridge and 1891 Pueblo Bulk Freighter

(Bridge Hunter, no satellite because it was removed in 1961)

 
Bridge Hunter indicates that HAER Report MA-35 [HAER], Fort Point Channel Rolling Lift Bridge notes that this was the first Scherzer rolling lift bridge ever designed. (Update: a Van Buren Street Bridge was also designed by Scherzer, and I include more details from the report in the Van Buren Street Bridge notes.)

(Update: information concerning the Wells Street Terminal has been moved to its own notes. There is alson an overview of the Met and a description of the Blue Line that replaced the main line of the Met.)

Uraiwan Dutkiewicz posted
Jackknife Bridge, Chicago River. 1907. Photo by: Hans Behm.
Jon Habermaas: Bridge for Metropolitan Elevated (CTA westside lines,,Garfield Park, Douglas Park, Logan Square and L trains and CA&E trains from Wells Street Terminal.
Michael Bush: Here is a site about the ship in the photo. Interesting tie in for the Edmund Fitzgerald.

I found a down picture from the same angle so that you can see how the curved girder, called a quadrant, rolls back and forth on the foundation rail.

PeterJ Santora posted
Roy Kessmann also posted

Historic Chicago posted a link to a darker exposure

IRM Strahorn Library posted
Railway themed images from “Souvenir of Chicago in Colors” - Colorized Postcards (c. 1908) of the V.O. Hammon Publishing Company of Chicago, Illinois
ILLINOIS RAILWAY MUSEUM Strahorn Library postcard collection.
[The description continues with information about the library.]

R. Horn Railroad Photos posted
David Sadowski: CA&E crossing the Chicago River on the Met main line.
Bill Baar: David Sadowski Looking south east I believe.
Andrew Roth shared
A Chicago, Aurora and Elgin train crossing over the Chicago River. The bridge was south of the Jackson Blvd. Bridge and just east of Union station.
Andrew Roth shared with the same comment
Jon Roma: Not just one, but TWO CA&E trains!
Dennis DeBruler: This is a rather rare view of the north side of the bridge. Most views are of the south side. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../metropolitan-l...

An earlier view before the swing bridge was replaced by the rolling lift bridge.

Patrick McNamara posted
Metropolitan Elevated RR Bridge between VanBuren and Jackson -1893 - with [the original] Union Station looming in the Left background.

 

safe_image for Postcards From the Bridge
[This May 14, 2023 posting has a lot of photos and information about this bridge.]

William Shapotkin posted
"All in favor of the return of service on the Garfield Park 'L,' signify by raising your draw." A picture of the out-of-service (since June 22, 1958) rapid transit bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River. View looks S/W across intersection of Jackson Blvd/Wacker Dr. (BTW -- is that a Parmelee (Railroad Transfer) vehicle at right?) Wm Shapotkin Collection.

Steve Vanden Bosch posted four photos with comments describing the 1902 freighter.
Nolan Skipper LaFramboise II Is she a wooden hull?
Timm Blair Nolan Skipper LaFramboise II yes and you can find additional details here -- https://www.greatlakesvesselhistory.com/historie.../p/pueblo

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An 1897 RR map indicates the Metropolitan Elevated ran between Jackson and Van Buren to the Wells Street Station.

1897

A 1938 aerial photo indicates it still existed between Union Station and the (now old) post office.

1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

VintageTribune
The view looking east of the elevated route bridge over the Chicago River between Jackson Boulevard and Van Buren Street on July 3, 1961. The bridge will be removed in a campaign to improve the downtown area, wrote the Tribune in 1961. Photo by William Vendetta.

Xzvier Quintana posted
The view looking east of the elevated route bridge over the Chicago River between Jackson Boulevard and Van Buren Street on July 3, 1961. The bridge will be removed in a campaign to improve the downtown area, wrote the Tribune in 1961. Photo by William Vendetta. (Vintage Tribune Chicago)

Darla Zailskas posted
Looking northeast from the main Post Office at Van Buren and
the South Branch of the Chicago River, early 1950's

I used the above photo to confirm that there were towers on the north side on both sides of the bridge.

USACE, Chicago District posted
#FlashbackFriday to a large draft vessel going under a lifted bridge in the Chicago River! U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District dredged our River to a depth of 20' in 1906, which made it possible for these large vehicles to navigate the river and bring additional commerce to the Region!
Dennis DeBruler: The quad-track bridge was the Metropolitan "L" Bridge. So the freighter is heading south on the South Branch. I wonder if it is carrying lumber.
The bascule bridge leaf in the background is the Jackson Boulevard Bridge, which was built in 1916 to replace a swing bridge.

Darla Zailskas posted
Van Buren Street Bridge 1949, the Scherzer rolling-lift bridge shown here at Van Buren, looking northeast, was replaced by a bascule bridge opened in Dec. 1956. The bridge in the background was the famous Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway bridge used for rapid transit from 1895 until June 22, 1958, when service began on the Congress Expressway. Always used for electric trains, this bridge was the only 4 track bridge in Chicago's history and also served the Chicago Aurora & Elgin Railway AS TOLD by the Department of Public Works

MWRD posted

Historical Photo of the Week: A view looking north from the roof of a building on Van Buren Street, showing a Metropolitan Elevated Rail bridge and the South Branch of the Chicago River, September 1, 1903.
Jennifer Burns shared
[That was a Pennsy/PFW&C freight house on the left.]

MWRD posted
A view from the Adams Street Bridge looking south at the South Branch of the Chicago River showing the new Jackson Street Bridge raised before opening to the public on January 29, 1916.

MWRD posted
The west side abutment for the Metropolitan Elevated RR Bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River between Van Buren Street and Jackson Boulevard, viewed looking south, on November 11, 1911.
MWRD posted

 

MWRD posted on Apr 1, 2024 [Look in the lwoer-right corner.]

Update: According to an advertisement, this was one of three bridges they mentioned as "in successful operation."

Len Marcus commented on a posting
West Metropolitan L over the Chicago River, was this type of bridge. Carried the CA&E and the West Side Met trains into the Loop.

John B Copleston posted
[This is obviously a colored version of a UIC Library Photo]

One of the photos posted by Marty Swartz
Drawbridge across the Chicago River, from postcard c. 1910.
[This artist preferred lighter colors. Or else it faded a lot.]

Jim Arvites posted
View of a Metropolitan Elevated train on the Van Buren Street Bridge crossing the Chicago River circa 1907.
[Yet another colorization of this photo. I added other images from these notes to the posting as comments.]

Jim Arvites posted again
Bruce Moffat View was actually taken from the Van Buren bridge. The bridge was just the Metropolitan beige as it carried the four tracks of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated. Remained in use through 1958 when CTA closed it. Opened in 1895.
Craig Dickson You can still see the foundation in the Chicago River just north of the Van Buren bridge!

Ethical G Dilemma posted
Chicago circa 1907. "Jack-Knife Bridge, Chicago River." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative by Hans Behm, Detroit Publishing Company.

David Daruszka commented on a posting

MWRD posted
A view looking north towards the raised Metropolitan Elevated Railroad Bridge and boat traffic on the South Branch of the Chicago River, from a point just north of Van Buren, on November 9, 1911.
MWRD posted on Oct 16, 2021
A comment on a share for which Facebook won't give me a link:
Ken Morrison: The Mauch Chunk, of Buffalo, NY. Owned by the Lehigh Valley Steamship Co., which later became simply Lehigh Valley Transit, very likely part of the railroad... 380 feet long; ships that come to Chicago today (Calumet River) are generally twice as long...
BDBRCPC posted
Chicago River at Adams Street - 1911
Raymond Kunst shared
MWRD posted on Nov 20, 2022

MWRD posted on Dec 9, 2022
A view showing the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railroad bridge on the west side of the South Branch of the Chicago River, viewed from the Jackson Street bridge on November 9, 1911.

Paul Petraitis posted two photos with the comment: "The glass negative ways "Metropolitan RR"....look at the detail I pulled up!"

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David H. Nelson commented on a share by Forgotten Railways, Roads, and Places
David H. Nelson This is the bridge I mentioned crossing the river (looking south).
Dennis DeBruler I believe it is looking north. The Sanitary District bypass channel is on the left side of the photo and the bypass was on the west side of the South Branch.

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Richard Ragnar Sammartino commented on another posting by Paul Petraitis of Photo "1" above.

Patrick McNamara commented on Paul's posting
 Photo by Hans Behm - 1907 - from that silly 'shorpy' site that doesn't credit any photographers.......

David Daruszka commented on another posting
 The Union Station headhouse is on the right. The tall building is the CB&Q office building, today's headquarters for the commuter rail agency Metra.
David DaruszkaGroup Admin Built in 1895 removed in 1958. [The use stopped in 1958. It was removed in 1961.]
David DaruszkaGroup Admin The bridge itself was a unique example of a "Sherzer" Rolling Lift Bridge. Unlike a trunion bascule bridge, which pivots on an axle, this lift bridge rolled back like a rocking chair along a track. If you stand on the Van Buren Street bridge and look on the west bank of the river you can see the remnants of the pit for the bridge.
Dennis DeBrulerGroup Admin "Scherzer" I have to look up the spelling every time I use this word. This was the first bridge he designed. I didn't realized until recently that it spans only one side of the river because, when it was built, boats had to fit on one side of the swing bridges that were still present on the river. Chicago used to have a lot of bridges with this design. Cermak Road is the only one left in Chicago. Joliet still has theirs because the foundations are built on dolomite limestone instead of a swamp.

CTA Flickr via Bridge Hunter

Met L Trains Crossing Chicago River

To reach the Loop, trains using the Metropolitan Main Line crossed the Chicago River on a four track drawbridge. In this view dating to the early 1940’s, an eastbound Garfield Park-Westchester train approaches the Loop. In 1958, the elevated structure was abandoned and CTA service was rerouted onto new tracks laid in the Eisenhower Expressway median and into the Dearborn Subway.

 

MWRD posted on Dec 3, 2022
The Metropolitan Elevated RR bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River between Van Buren Street and Jackson Boulevard, viewed looking north, on November 22, 1911. 

MWRD posted
The Metropolitan Elevated RR bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River, viewed from the west end of the Van Buren Street bridge looking north, on September 23, 1908. Friends of the Chicago River
MWRD posted again

MWRD posted a different exposure
The Metropolitan Elevated RR bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River, viewed from the Van Buren Street bridge looking north, on September 23, 1908. 
Greg Burnet shared
Robert Fiedler: Aurora Elgin & Chicago car

Jeff Bransky commented on a posting
Here is an aerial view of the MET L tracks looking east. You can see the Union Station train sheds, the bridge crossing the River, and the tracks curving on the east side of the river turning south onto Market Street (today’s South Wacker Drive).

Jeff Bransky commented on a posting
On the left, the Union Station Headhouse, Concourse, and train sheds can be seen along with the Metropolitan Elevated tracks and bridge.

MWRD posted
Historical photo of the week: Construction of the west abutment for the Jackson Boulevard bridge, viewed from the northwest corner looking south down the South Branch of the Chicago River, on February 19, 1915. The bascule style bridge was built by the Sanitary District (now MWRD) in 1915.
Dennis DeBruler The Scherzer rolling lift bridge of the Metropolitan West Elevated is in the background. The Chicago, Aurora & Elgin interurban also used that bridge.

That bridge and the Van Buren Street Bridge were the first two bridges built by Scherzer. He developed this design because there was not enough room between the two bridges for swing bridges. Once again, necessity is the mother of invention.

I couldn't figure out which post to add this to. I picked this one because you can see a train on the viaduct in the background. I also added the "water" label because of the storage yard for water supply pipes and fittings in the right foreground.

MWRD posted
Looking north from the Harrison Street Bridge showing the South Branch of the Chicago River and adjacent properties on November 24, 1908.

MWRD posted on Oct 16, 2022
A dipper dredge in action near the Metropolitan Elevated RR bridge over the South Branch of the Chicago River, north of Van Buren Street, on October 5, 1899.
MWRD posted again with the same comment
Greg Burnet shared

My thanks to Sandy Cleary who flagged a couple of removal dates of 1958 instead of 1961. They have been updated. She also provided information from an article in the July 5, 1961, issue of the Chicago Tribune: "One of the latest improvements for the downtown area, Moore said, is the pending removal of the elevated route bridge between Jackson boulevard and Van Buren street. The Chicago transit authority will open bids July 13 for removal of the bridge, which formerly was used by the Garfield park ‘L’ branch." And she provided the link in the caption on the following image.

irm-cta

Flickr of 1940s color slide

More photos of this bridge as the Cliffs Victory went from Baltimore, MD, via the Gulf of Mexico, to the Great Lakes.