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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CP/ICE/Milw 2004 Scherzer Bridge over Black River in La Crosse, WI

(Bridge Hunter, John A. Weeks III, no John Marvig, 3D Satellite)

While watching the video below, I could not identify what type of drawbridge was over the Black River, even when I looked at a 3D Satellite image. It seemed to be a Scherzer rolling lift bridge, but I could not clearly identify the quarter-round rolling members, even in the photos on Bridge Hunter. But John's photo below clearly shows a rolling member. I didn't know they still built this design.

The predecessor bridge was a swing bridge. So the US Coast Guard has been successful in getting a swing bridge removed from the Mississippi River. But John explains that this channel is used by recreational boats. Commercial (barge) traffic uses the west channel. When I looked at the satellite image, it appeared the Black River was just another channel of the Mississippi River. John explains "the Black River was once a separate river in this area, but it was captured a few miles up river by the Mississippi a few centuries ago." [Weeks-#7]

John A. Weeks III

(new window) They get to the bridge at about 4:06. It sounds like the private car has a flat wheel.

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Aban/B&O 1907 Bridge #464 near Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, HAER, Bird's Eye View, 3D Satellite)

At 230', it is the worlds longest Scherzer Rolling Lift span.

C Hanchey Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC)

Published prior to 1923

Cleveland Public Library Photo Credit, released into public domain

 Cropped Photo from HAER OHIO,18-CLEV,27--1 from oh0130
Post card view of the bridge, c. 1910. Post card courtesy Carol Poh Miller. Photocopy by Berni Rich, Score Photographers Cleveland, OH - B & O Railroad Bridge Number 464, Spanning Old Ship Canal & Cuyahoga River, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH

(new window)

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Preserved/B&O 1956 Bridge #463 over Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH

(Bridge Hunter, Historic Bridges, 3D Satellite)

I wonder if this was the last heel-trunnion bridge ever built because it was built in 1956 when the river was widened. I noticed that Bridge Hunter and Historic Bridges disagreed on the length of the span. Then I noticed that Bridge Hunter's span length was longer than the total length. So the Historic Bridges number, 231', is the correct length.

Flickr photo by brx0, License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)

Michael Fobel posted
The old "Jackknife Bridge" now in the permanent open position over the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio. I believe it belonged to the B&O railroad.

It's nice seeing a photo of a partially open bridge because it makes it easier to figure out how the linkages work.

Cleveland State University Library Photograph Collection

This shows the linkages in the closed position.

Cleveland State University Library Photograph Collection

Screenshot @ -2:08 (source: Dave Marion)

Until 1956, this location had a Scherzer Rolling bridge like Bridge #464. Below, #463 is in the foreground and #464 is to the left of the left smokestack.

Robert Pempsell posted

The rolling bridge was based on the bank opposite of the trunnion bridge.

Photo from Image courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections

Brian Akers commented on Russel's posting
Here is another view of the bridge from underneath the viaduct the photographer was standing on.

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