While researching the Wells Street Bridge in Milwaukee, I came across some photos of a trestle.
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| MilwaukeeMag, Photo courtesy of the Milwaukee County Historical Society It was built in 1892 and reached 100' above the valley floor. The last streetcar passed over it in 1958, and it was scrapped for the steel in 1962. |
I followed Wells Street west of the Milwaukee River on a satellite map. The land looked flat until I got here. The Menomone River made a lot bigger gouge in the land than any of the rivers that I'm familiar with in Chicagoland. This view of the Menomone valley includes the Wisconsin Avenue bridge.
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| Street View, Aug 2021 |
I'm suprised this 1958 topo map doesn't show the trestle. Even if the trestle was demolished in 1958 per this source, I would expect to see a connection between east and west Wells Street on this map. The map does show a bunch of topo lines bunched together north of Wisconsin Ave. and east of 39th St. There is a thick tree line on a satellite map showing the location of this bluff.
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| 1958 Milwaukee Quad @ 24,000 |
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| UrbanMilwaukee, Photo courtesy of Carl A. Swanson "For 60 years streetcars rattled across the 2,085-foot-long bridge, 90 feet above the Menomonee River Valley." [This web page has an additional postcard image and a history of the viaduct.] |
The resolution of this aerial photo is not good, but it is good enough to show that the trestle was still standing in May 1958.
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| EarthExplorer: May 21, 1958 @ 66,000; ARA001610121436 |
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