1894 The Lost High (Suicide) Bridge in Lincoln Park

(Satellite???, Since it was gone by 1919, I can't look for it on a 1938 aerial photo)

WTTW

Joseph Ruzich posted
Check out my blog and read a story with postcards about Suicide Bridge in Lincoln Park. I think you'll like it!
https://www.vintagechicagopostcards.com/2020/06/lost-souls-on-chicagos-forgotten.html

It was a four-story tall bridge so that sailboats could pass underneath it. It was built in 1892 or 94. Unfortunately, it was high enough that it became a popular place to commit suicide. Fortunately, for a couple of amateur actors, falling off the bridge was not a guaranteed death. They did it in 1916 for a movie and survived. It was torn down in 1919. [WTTW]

Beer drinking, bicycle riding, Chicago photography club posted five images with a comment that is text copied from the Geoffrey Baer's WTTW article.
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Raymond Kunst posted six images with the comment:

Lincoln Park's 'Suicide Bridge’, the High Bridge at the Lincoln Park Lagoon (non extant).

This was called the “Suicide Bridge.” It was a four story bridge over Lincoln Park lagoon south of Fullerton and east of Lincoln Park Zoo. It connected Lincoln Park to the lakefront at the time when Lake Shore Drive was a carriage route rather than a 'drive' / 'urban parkway'.

It was simply called the High Bridge, built in either 1892 or 1894 to be tall enough for sailboats to fit underneath.

The bridge offered spectacular views of the lake, but unfortunately also became the choice location for people wishing to end their lives. There are dozens of accounts of people throughout the years leaping over the bridge. Soon, the press was widely calling this the “Suicide Bridge.”

In 1916, amateur movie-makers shot a chase scene on the bridge. The characters were to fall from the bridge, but a stunt man they hired refused to jump, saying the water below was too shallow. The amateur actors decided to do it themselves and both survived.

The Park District became greatly concerned, and talked about fencing the bridge over or tearing it down. It survived until 1919, when it was finally torn down. By then, the bridge became so rusty that anyone going across it risked his life.

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David S McCoy commented on Raymond's share
Note that Fullerton did not always extend to Lake Shore Drive. Perhaps this was a reason for the pedestrian bridge.