Monday, May 10, 2021

1887-1943 US-20 Wagon or High Bridge over Mississippi River at Dubuque, IA

(Bridge Hunter; no John A. Weeks III; Satellite, it was 75' downstream from the railroad bridge)

"It is the longest crossing of its kind in the West and exclusively highway in character." When the swing span of the IC+CGW railroad bridge is opened, it swings under the cantilever span of the high bridge. [Bridge Hunter] This bridge was replaced in 1943 by the Julien Dubuque Bridge, which is further downstream.

Flickr 1897, No known copyright restrictions
IC. R. R. Co. Bridge. Diamond Jo Grain Elevators. THE HIGH BRIDGE FROM THE IOWA SHORE.

Image from page 49 of "Dubuque and its neighborhood" (1897)

Identifier: dubuqueitsneighb00harg
Title: Dubuque and its neighborhood
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Harger and Blish, [from old catalog] comp
Subjects:
Publisher: Dubuque [Hardie & Scharle]
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

Photo provided by Hank Zaletel via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
Flickr

EncyclopediaDubuque
C. L. Strobel was chosen to design a pontoon bridge at this location. But he suggested a high bridge that would not need a movable span. So the plan to build a pontoon bridge changed to a plan to build a high bridge. I've seen the date of 1886 for this bridge, but that is when the money was raised. The first teams crossed the bridge on Nov 25, 1887.

Digitized by Google, p484,485

Most of the old aerials of Illinois were taken in the late 1930s so I was surprised to see the Julien Bridge instead of the Wagon Bridge. Then I noticed that the date for this photo was 1947.

1947 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

James Rogers posted 6 photos with the comment:

Roadtrips

Then and Now Series

Today's Iowa history lesson will involve a wee bit of Illinois, due to the subject matter being a bridge over the Mississippi River.

Built in 1887, as a joint effort between the communities of Dubuque, Iowa and East Dubuque, Illinois, a bridge was built across the Mississippi River for use by pedestrian and wagon traffic. The bridge was know to locals as the High Bridge or the Wagon Wheel Bridge. This bridge remained in service until the current Julien Dubuque Bridge built to the south was completed in 1943.

I started taking interest in this structure of yore a few years ago after learning of it's existence, and that some if it's structure still remains {on the Illinois side}. It took me a few visits to the area to get the needed photographs.

The color postcard, and black and white images where found online. Either image noted no owner, so we'll go with public domain. The viewpoints of these images was taken from the Illinois bluff, and showcases the Iowa side. Here is a good place to note that the parallel Illinois Central Railroad bridge still exists today.

On the Iowa side, the area where the bridge approach would have been is long gone. I was able to get this image looking east across the river. On the Illinois side, the bridge approach still exists along the bluff.

Luckily during my first visit to the area it was January, therefore I was able to get a profile shot of the aproach. If visiting the area during the summer, the approach is hidden by the trees. The summer image of the approach was taken this year from public lands adjacent to the river.