Taylor Street Bridge

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; no Chicago Loop Bridges; Satellite, removed  in 1929 so it doesn't appear in a 1938 aerial photo either)

While researching the B&OCT bridge across the South Branch before it was straightened, I found some information on the swing and rolling bridges that used to be at Taylor Street.

Period postcard, License: Released into public domain

Below, in the background, is the Taylor Street rolling bridge in the upright position. It appears that a dredging machine is working under it. Or is it a marine crane that is removing the center pier for the former swing bridge?

Martin G. Sorenson posted
Chicago circa 1900. "12th Street Bascule Bridge." Dinosaurs of the ... top (north) bridge is no longer in use - it served the old Grand Central Station (B&O and others) at Wells and Harrison until the late 50s.
David Daruszka The boat is a tour boat of the recently completed "drainage canal". The Sanitary and Ship Canal was an engineering marvel, and the techniques used in it's construction were replicated at the Panama Canal.
[This photo was taken from the 12th Street (Roosevelt Blvd.) Bridge, not of  the 12th Street Bridge. This bridge was replaced by the Strauss bridge near 16th Street when the river was straightened.]
Mike Savad posted a watercolor of this photo.

Another view of Taylor Street in the background.

Public Domain photo from Bridge Hunter, cropped

From "Scherzer rolling lift bridges" by the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company, Chicago. Published 1908

These Scherzer rolling lift bridges replaced swing bridges.

Bridge Hunter, Public Domain, eBook, p 695

Taylor Street's swing bridge would not allow contemporary (1899, 478') ships to pass. The center pier also prevented the 300,000 cubic feet of water per minute flow required to flush the river down the new drainage canal. Removal of the center pier also provided the 120' navigation channel required by the United States War Department for the Chicago River. [eBook, p 696]

The swing bridge still exists in the background of this image of the B&OCT bridge.

Public Domain, eBook, p 696

Looking through the bridge in the foreground, we can see the Taylor Street swing span on the right and the viaduct to the west that crossed the Pennsylvania and CB&Q rail yards south of Union Station.

Public Domain, eBook, p 608

"Fig 4 is a general plan of the new Taylor street rolling lift bridge The span from centre to centre of bearings is 148 feet 7 inches. The roadway from centre to centre of trusses is 20 feet in width, with a 5 foot sidewalk on each side." [eBook, p 700]

Public Domain, eBook, p 696

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