Monday, March 31, 2014

(Photos) Remains of an old Chicago River footbridge

While running yesterday through Bunker Hill Woods and Caldwell Woods, which are located in Chicago and Niles, I came across these columns, which are that that remains of a footbridge that connected two halves of the old Bunker Hill Country Club.


I'm pleased that I discovered the bridge before the spring foliage emerged--the leaves would have spoiled the view.


I wanted to get all of the river in a photograph, so I climbed through some dense brush to accomplish this task.


The view from the stairs to the bridge. Bunker Hill closed in the 1950s--it was sold to the Cook County Forest Preserve District. The rest of the bridge was wooden and it either rotted away or it was dismantled by the FPD for safety reasons.


A look at the top of the stairs.

Related posts:

at

2 comments:

  1. Mary Anne9:17 AM

    Recently, in spending a lot of time at the library, I have seen photos of wooden bridges across the rivers - both Chicago and Des Plaines. They and dams were everywhere, with dams having cars drive across them, but others only allowed narrow foot traffic. A lot of them on the D.P. River rotted or were torn up during high floods. There are interesting photos of these being used back in the 220s and 30s.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marathon Pundit9:17 AM

    Some of the Des Plaines River dams have been removed to aid canoe and kayak navigation on the River. They were dangerous low-head dams, known as "drowning machines."

    ReplyDelete