95th Street Bridges over Calumet River

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(Bridge Hunter, Bridge Hunter Old, Historic Bridges, Chicago Loop Bridges, Streetview (with a big boat), 3D Satellite)

Notice that just the first member of the truss is built with lattice work. The other members look like just I-beams fabricated with plate steel and angle irons.

safe_image for Chicago Loop Bridges' history

 

Michael Mora posted
In better days this 210-foot wooden and iron truss swing bridge built in 1891 carried wagon, pedestrian and street car traffic over the Calumet River at 95th Street. By 1899, the bridge was so rotted the city condemned it and closed it to traffic. The bridge was then swung over its center protection pier for support, but half of that had rotted away. City crew also drove temporary piles under each of the far ends of the bridge for more support. A few days later, another crew came to rebuild center pier. When they swung bridge off temporary piles to do that, it completely collapsed, wrecked beyond repair. No one was hurt and “the channel of the river was in no way obstructed.” Photo and story from The Railway and Engineering Review, August 1899,
https://www.google.com/.../The_Railway.../AxJCAQAAIAAJ...

Jo Pin posted

The 1903 view of construction work on the 95th Street bridge over the Calumet River way before 1979, when the Blues Brothers mobile jumped the Calumet River!

Street level view, looking east down the 95th Street Bridge at men placing boards on the surface around streetcar tracks that are laid on the inside lanes.

Two women are walking toward the bridge in the foreground. The 95th Street Bridge spanned the Calumet River in the South Chicago community area of Chicago, Illinois.

(Creator - Chicago Daily News, Inc.)

Rod Sellers: View is east. Iroquois Iron in distance at right.

David Utech: An abundant use of Chicago's Y-shaped "Municipal Device" before it was officially adopted by City Council.

Because there were boats leaving Crowley's Yacht Yard and milling around waiting for the bridge to go up and because I had seen a car parked at the bridge tender house, I knew the bridge was going to go up eventually. So I had time to set up the camera on a tripod and take a video of bridge going up and down to let three sailboats go to the lake. Since I had it on a tripod, I let it run from gates down to gates up. Do pay attention to the comment on YouTube about turning the volume way down because of wind noise. (The weird truss thing on the right is the remnant of the B&O bridge. The lift bridges are what was left of two NYC and two Pennsy bridges.)

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(new window)  Starting at 11:15, he changed the view to the lake. Note the size of the waves breaking against the breakwater in the background.


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Below is a picture from Ewing Avenue Bridge. 95th Street bridge is in the foreground on the right.

I used the magic of digital camera resolution to zoom in on the bridge.

Below is an experiment using Gimp to increase the brightness and contrast by +40 each. It is still hard to see the truss work under the deck.

I took this picture because I was trying to figure out why they added weights near the end of the leaves. It must be hard to remove some weight from the counterweights and they did a change that made the leaves lighter. Was the change new lighting? I wonder what those brackets with a hole at the end used to hold.

Even though this 1958 bridge is rather modern by Chicago bridge standards, it doesn't have a nicely rounded upper chord. But it does have plenty of rivets.

The "hills and dales" in the walkway were a little unnerving along with the "wiggling" or "bouncing" of the bridge when cars passed over. I'm used to the bridges in Joliet that don't wiggle unless a big truck crosses the bridge.

The bridge tender house looks more like an aircraft control tower. The cars are parked to pick up fish from Calumet Fisheries. They did a steady business the entire time I was in the area.

License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

The previous bridge was built in 1902 and is one of 10 first generation bridges. You can tell a first generation bridge because it had three truss lines, each with the rack teeth on the outside so that you can easily see them. This bridge also had the "Municipal Device" (upside down Y) in the cross bracing. Note how all of the truss members are fabricated with lattice work.

Digital zoom of above photo

Update:

Dwayne Stegner posted
The new 95th st. Bridge postcard.
["New" as opposed to the 1899 swing bridge that split in two pieces over the pivot pier. [ChicagoLoopBridges] You can see that they still have to remove the pivot pier. A different colorization for a postcard]

Dwayne Stegner commented on a posting
Rod Sellers posted a different postcard version of this scene.
Calumet River view south toward 95th Street bascule trunnion bridge built in 1903 (replacing a swing bridge) and railroad swing bridges at about 97th Street. The railroad bridges were replaced by vertical lift bridges between 1912 and 1915. At one time 10 sets of tracks crossed the river at that point. Iroquois Iron 95th Street plant is to the left. Eventually Iroquois would close and move to the mouth of the Calumet River across from South Works. In the distance is the Merritt Grain Elevator (later the Norris Elevator). c1911

David Mireles commented on his posting

Michael Siola shared

Rod Sellers posted
Where am I?

Rod Sellers commented on his post
Answer: 95th Street bridge, view east, nearing completion 1903. One of the earliest trunnion bascule bridges built in Chicago. Replaced a swing bridge originally at 95th Street. Tracks are for trolley cars. Replaced by current 95th Street bridge in 1958. Iroquois Iron blast furnace visible at back right. Attached photo give different view of the bridge.

Andrew Urbanski commented on Rod's post, cropped

Rod Sellers commented on his post
Different photo from the same source. Daily News photos via Library of Congress. Here is another one.
[A better exposure of this photo]

Michael Siola posted
[This time I noticed the hot stoves of the Iroquois Steel Mill on the right side of the photo.]

Streetcar Driving Over 95th Street Bridge

Streetcar driving on one lane of the 95th Street Bridge, spanning the Calumet River between South Chicago and East Side neighborhoods while construction work is being done in the Spring of 1903.

Note that this is an earlier incarnation of the bridge than the current bridge which was built by the City of Chicago in 1958.

Chicago, Illinois, March 19, 1903. (Photo by Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News collection/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)

Michael Siola shared
Michael Siola shared
Michael Siola shared
Michael Siola shared

VintageChicago
[It looks like they are building the west leaf in the open position.]

Albert Shorey posted

Alan Janney caught the Alpena heading towards the lake causing this bridge to be in the raised position. Note the NS span is already back down.

Alan Janney posted on 12-13-2018
Calumet River, Skyway Bridge, railroad bridge (don’t know which RR), 95th St and a Lake freighter
Dennis DeBruler The lift span that is down is NS, former Penssy. The two that are up are former NYC. The remnant of a Strauss heel-trunnion bridge that you see between the lift tower and the left bascule leaf was B&O. (A ship allided with the span of the B&O bridge so the span was removed.)
David Daruszka http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/fleet/alpena.htm

When I commented that lakers with their bridge on the bow are becoming rare, he posted a couple more photos:

1

2

Rod Sellers posted
Where am I?

Rod Sellers commented on his post
Answer: Chicago Surface Lines trolley crossing 95th Street Bridge heading east 1947. "Y" symbol in bridge superstructure is is a common symbol for Chicago based on the Chicago River - the North Branch, South Branch and Main Branch. Attached photo shows another view of the second 95th Street Bridge. This bridge replaced a swing bridge at that location in 1902 and was replaced by the current bridge in 1958.
George Dosen: I was on the crane in the background filming the Blues Bros. jump scene.
April Kristy: And while the filmmakers were at the 95th street bridge, I was turning around trying to get to work on time. Finally when the movie came out, everyone believed that I was really stopped by a movie!!

 

Franklin Campbell shared

safe_image for Alpena at 95th Flickr

 

1 of 3 photos posted by Michael Galindo
Caught the tail end of the Happy Rover inbound on the Calumet River south of Chicago. Just inching her way past the 95th street bridge

I recognize the Happy Rover as a BigLift freighter. I wonder what kind of cargo it is delivering and to which dock on the Calumet River. It has gone past the normal cargo dock of Illinois International Port.

BigLiftShipping_brochure, p1 via BigLiftShipping_happy_r
"Equipped with strong, 400 mt SWL Huisman cranes, they can handle units up to 800 mt in a tandem lift."

 

Alan Wooller posted
Barges eh

C. B. Douglas posted four pictures of a laker north of 95th street with the comment:

Algoma Central's M/v Algolake arrived in the Port of Chicago early Sunday morning under a wet and foggy sky. Heading to the old Marblehead dock assisted by G-tugs Massachusetts & Florida.

Unfortunately, it is a closed group and I don't know where the old Marblehead dock is.

Flickr photo of the Cason J. Callaway boat passing under the bridge. (source) It is nice to learn that some industries along the Calumet River are still viable.

Christine Douglas posted a stern view of the Alpena, the oldest boat on the Great Lakes, with this bridge and the lift bridges in the background. Christine's comment:

The S/S Alpena inbound on the Calumet River in the Port of Chicago this morning, on her way to Lafarge Cement on Lake Calumet. In her honor.... ALL of the bridges readily opened for her all the way to Lake Calumet! Clear sailing all the way through! ... Wow!

Look at the second from last photo on this page.