Clark Street Bridge
Clark Street Bridge | |
|---|---|
 The bridge in 2023 | |
| Coordinates | 41°53′15″N 87°37′52″W / 41.8875°N 87.6310°W |
| Carries | Vehicles, pedestrians on Clark Street |
| Crosses | Chicago River |
| Locale | Chicago |
| Characteristics | |
| Total length | 346 feet (105 m)[1] |
| Width | 215 feet (66 m)[2] |
| Longest span | 215 feet (66 m)[2] |
| Clearance below | 20 feet (6 m)[1] |
| History | |
| Construction end | 1929 |
| Opened | 1929 |
| Location | |
 | |
The Clark Street Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, connecting the Near North Side with The Loop via Clark Street.[1]
History
[edit]
The current bridge, which was completed in 1929,[2] is the eighth bridge to span the river at this point.[3] In 1853 the bridge was struck by a steamer, called the London, and collapsed, blocking traffic on the river. The bridge was dredged and river traffic resumed on September 8, 1853.[4] In 1854, the city approved an expenditure of $12,000 to replace the bridge with a pivot bridge.[5] During the Lager Beer Riot in 1855, the bridge was pivoted to help contain the rioters.[6]
On June 26, 1907, the steamer Atlas collided with the south abutment of the bridge and sank. She was declared a total loss.[7]
The passenger ship SS Eastland was scheduled to sail from the dock at the Clark Street Bridge when she capsized on July 24, 1915, killing 844 people.[8]
In March 2012, an unidentified man jumped from the bridge and was rescued by local high school students on a field trip. He later died of hypothermia.[citation needed]
In popular culture
[edit]In 1916, Carl Sandburg wrote the poem "Clark Street Bridge."[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Clark Street Bridge". historicbridges.org. Archived from the original on August 16, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
- ^ a b c "Chicago River Bascule Bridge, Clarke Street, Spanning Chicago River at Clarke Street, Chicago, Cook County, IL". Historic American Engineering Record. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
- ^ McBriarty, Patrick T. (2013). Chicago River Bridges. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press. pp. 86–94. ISBN 978-0-252-03786-3.
- ^ "Column 1". Chicago Tribune. September 9, 1853. p. 3.
- ^ "Clark Street Bridge". Chicago Tribune. February 11, 1854. p. 2.
- ^ "Trail of the Rioters". Chicago Tribune. June 21, 1855. p. 2.
- ^ "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1908". Harvard University. Retrieved September 23, 2019.
- ^ "Dewey - Addams - Chicago". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2007.
- ^ Sandburg, Carl (1916). Chicago Poems. Henry Holt.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Clark Street Bridge at Wikimedia Commons
 | This article about a bridge in Illinois is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- Bridge disasters in the United States
- 1929 establishments in Illinois
- Bascule bridges in Illinois
- Collisions between ships and bridges
- SS Eastland
- Bridges completed in 1929
- Bridges in Chicago
- Historic American Engineering Record in Chicago
- Road bridges in Illinois
- Transportation disasters in Illinois
- Illinois bridge (structure) stubs
- Chicago building and structure stubs