Michigan Avenue Bridge
Encyclopedia
The Michigan Avenue Bridge has a north–south orientation, spanning the main stem of the Chicago River between the Near North Side
and Loop community areas
of Chicago. Its northern portal lies at the foot of the Magnificent Mile
, between the Wrigley Building
and Tribune Tower
. Its southern portal is at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive
, overlooked by the London Guarantee Building
and 333 North Michigan
. The neighboring bridges are Columbus Drive Bridge to the east and Wabash Avenue Bridge
to the west.
The bridge is situated in a historically significant area. The northern end of the bridge covers part of the Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite
, which is commemorated by a National Historic plaque in Pioneer Court
. The southern half of the bridge passes over the site of Fort Dearborn
, which was constructed in 1803. The Fort is commemorated by a large relief
above the entrance of the London Guarantee Building, and brass markers positioned in the sidewalks on the south side of the bridge delineate the posited outline of the original blockhouse
.
In October 2010, the bridge was renamed DuSable Bridge in honor of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, Chicago's first permanent resident. A fur trader of African descent who married into the Potawatomi
tribe, he established a permanent homestead and trading post near the mouth of the Chicago River in the 1780s.
that spans the Seine in Paris, or that, rather than constructing an entirely new bridge, the existing Rush Street bridge should be double-decked.
Plans for the boulevard and the construction of a Michigan Avenue Bridge were further elaborated upon in Daniel Burnham
's 1909 Plan of Chicago. In 1911 a plan was selected that included the widening of Michigan Avenue from Randolph Street to the river, replacing the Rush Street bridge with a new bridge at Michigan Avenue and the construction of a double-decked boulevard along Pine Street as far as Ohio Street. An ordinance to fund construction was passed in 1913, but was declared void by the Supreme Court of Illinois
. A second ordinance was passed in 1914, but legal battles continued until the end of 1916. Construction finally started on April 15, 1918, and the bridge was officially opened in a ceremony on May 14, 1920.
The bridge is one of the contributing properties of the Michigan–Wacker Historic District, which was listed as on the National Register of Historic Places
on November 15, 1978. It was also designated as a Chicago Landmark
on October 2, 1991. In 2009 the sidewalks and railings on the bridge were replaced, and the bridge was repainted; the design of the new ornamental railings was based on the original 1920 design for the bridge's railings, replacing more utilitarian ones that had been substituted at a later date.
, trunnion bascule bridge. It was engineered by the Chicago Department of Public Works, Bureau of Engineering; Edward H. Bennett
was the consulting architect and William A. Mulcahy the chief engineer of construction. At the time of construction it was believed to be the first double-deck bridge ever built to have roadway on both levels; faster non-commercial traffic using the upper deck and slower commercial traffic that served the various industries and docks in the vicinity of the river using the lower deck.
Each of the bridge's leaves are divided into two along the axis of the bridge such that it functions as two parallel bridges that can be operated independently of one another; at the time of construction bridges in the Chicago River were frequently struck by vessels, and this duplex arrangement allows for leaves damaged in such a collision to be opened for repair without needing to completely close the bridge to traffic. The counterweights are below the level of the lower deck and when the bridge is opened they swing down into 40 feet (12.2 m) deep reinforced concrete tailpits that descend 34.5 feet (10.5 m) below the surface of the river. Each of the two tailpits is supported on 9 cylindrical foundation piers. One of these piers was sunk to bedrock
, 108 feet (32.9 m) below the river surface, the other 17 piers are sunk to the hardpan
, which is 80 to 90 ft (24.4 to 27.4 m) below the water level. On the south side of the river one of the freight tunnels of the Chicago Tunnel Company
had to be re-routed to make room for the tailpit. The counterweights are composed partly of concrete and partly of a concrete composite with rivet punchings; each of the four counterweights weighs 1595 short tons (1,447 MT).
The bridge abutments and the facing of the bridge tender houses are made of Bedford stone
. There are four bridge tender houses: the northwest and southeast bridgehouses house the controls for operating the bridge; the northeast and southwest bridgehouses are purely decorative. Two 108 hp motors open and close each of the 3750 short tons (3,401.9 MT) bridge leaves. Originally the bridge was staffed 24 hours a day, and opened up to 3000 times a year to allow ships through, but since the 1970s bridge lifting has been scheduled in the spring and autumn, when the bridge is raised twice weekly to allow sailboats to pass between Lake Michigan
and inland boat yards where they are stored for the winter.
, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
and Henri de Tonti
; The Pioneers depicts John Kinzie
leading a group through the wilderness. The sculptures on the southern bridgehouses were commissioned by the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund, and are by Henry Hering
: Defense depicts a scene from the 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn; Regeneration depicts workers rebuilding Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire
of 1871.
The bridge is also bedecked with 28 flagpoles, usually flying the flags of the United States, Illinois and Chicago. On special occasions other banners may be displayed.
, formerly owner of the Chicago Tribune and president of the Chicago Sanitary District. The Robert R. McCormick Foundation was the major donor that helped to provide the $950,000 cost of the formation of the museum. It is run by the Friends of the Chicago River, and includes exhibits on the history of the Chicago River and the bridge. Visitors are also allowed to access the bridge's gear room; during the spring and fall bridge lifting visitors can see the bridge gears in operation as the leaves are raised and lowered. Due to its small size and tight access stairway only 34 people are allowed inside the museum at any one time.
Near North Side, Chicago
The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district . To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago,...
and Loop community areas
Community areas of Chicago
Community areas in Chicago refers to the work of the Social Science Research Committee at University of Chicago which has unofficially divided the City of Chicago into 77 community areas. These areas are well-defined and static...
of Chicago. Its northern portal lies at the foot of the Magnificent Mile
Magnificent Mile
The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is a neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, that runs along a portion of Michigan Avenue extending from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side community area. The district is located adjacent to downtown; it is also one block...
, between the Wrigley Building
Wrigley Building
The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower on the Magnificent Mile...
and Tribune Tower
Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic building located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Company. WGN Radio also broadcasts from the building, with ground-level studios overlooking nearby Pioneer Court and Michigan Avenue. CNN's...
. Its southern portal is at the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive
Wacker Drive
Wacker Drive is a major street in Chicago, Illinois, United States, running along the south side of the main branch and the east side of the south branch of the Chicago River...
, overlooked by the London Guarantee Building
London Guarantee Building
The London Guarantee Building, formerly known as the Stone Container Building, is a historic building located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. It is known as one of the four 1920s flanks of the Michigan Avenue Bridge . It stands on part of the former site of Fort Dearborn...
and 333 North Michigan
333 North Michigan
333 North Michigan is an art deco skyscraper located in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. Architecturally, it is noted for its dramatic upper-level setbacks that were inspired by the 1923 skyscraper zoning laws...
. The neighboring bridges are Columbus Drive Bridge to the east and Wabash Avenue Bridge
Wabash Avenue Bridge
The Wabash Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River was built in 1930. Standing west of the Michigan Avenue Bridge and southwest of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, the bascule bridge connects the Near North Side with "The Loop" area.The single-deck, double leaf bridge was designed by Thomas...
to the west.
The bridge is situated in a historically significant area. The northern end of the bridge covers part of the Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite
Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite
The Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite is the location where, in the 1780s, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable located his home and trading post. This home is generally considered to be the first permanent, non Native, residence in Chicago, Illinois. The site of Point du Sable's home is now partially...
, which is commemorated by a National Historic plaque in Pioneer Court
Pioneer Court
Pioneer Court is a plaza located near the junction of the Chicago River and Upper Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Magnificent Mile. It is believed to be the site of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable's original residence and trading post. In 1965, the plaza was built on the former site of his homestead as...
. The southern half of the bridge passes over the site of Fort Dearborn
Fort Dearborn
Fort Dearborn was a United States fort built in 1803 beside the Chicago River in what is now Chicago, Illinois. It was constructed by troops under Captain John Whistler and named in honor of Henry Dearborn, then United States Secretary of War. The original fort was destroyed following the Battle of...
, which was constructed in 1803. The Fort is commemorated by a large relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
above the entrance of the London Guarantee Building, and brass markers positioned in the sidewalks on the south side of the bridge delineate the posited outline of the original blockhouse
Blockhouse
In military science, a blockhouse is a small, isolated fort in the form of a single building. It serves as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery...
.
Name
The historical significance of the location has been used as the basis for a number of proposals to rename the bridge. In 1921 the Chicago Historical Society suggested that the bridge should be named Marquette–Joliet Bridge, and in 1939 it was proposed to rename the bridge as Fort Dearborn Bridge. These proposals were not adopted.In October 2010, the bridge was renamed DuSable Bridge in honor of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, Chicago's first permanent resident. A fur trader of African descent who married into the Potawatomi
Potawatomi
The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
tribe, he established a permanent homestead and trading post near the mouth of the Chicago River in the 1780s.
History
A boulevard to link the parks on Chicago's north and south sides was proposed as early as 1891. An early plan called for a tunnel to link Michigan Avenue south of the river with Pine Street (now Michigan Avenue) north of the river. In 1903 an editorial in the Chicago Tribune proposed a new bascule bridge across the river at Michigan Avenue. Other plans suggested that the bridge should be a replica of the Pont Alexandre IIIPont Alexandre III
The Pont Alexandre III is an arch bridge that spans the Seine, connecting the Champs-Élysées quarter and the Invalides and Eiffel Tower quarter, widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris...
that spans the Seine in Paris, or that, rather than constructing an entirely new bridge, the existing Rush Street bridge should be double-decked.
Plans for the boulevard and the construction of a Michigan Avenue Bridge were further elaborated upon in Daniel Burnham
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA was an American architect and urban planner. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington DC...
's 1909 Plan of Chicago. In 1911 a plan was selected that included the widening of Michigan Avenue from Randolph Street to the river, replacing the Rush Street bridge with a new bridge at Michigan Avenue and the construction of a double-decked boulevard along Pine Street as far as Ohio Street. An ordinance to fund construction was passed in 1913, but was declared void by the Supreme Court of Illinois
Supreme Court of Illinois
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five appellate judicial districts of the state: Three justices from the First District and...
. A second ordinance was passed in 1914, but legal battles continued until the end of 1916. Construction finally started on April 15, 1918, and the bridge was officially opened in a ceremony on May 14, 1920.
The bridge is one of the contributing properties of the Michigan–Wacker Historic District, which was listed as on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on November 15, 1978. It was also designated as a Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark
Chicago Landmark is a designation of the Mayor of Chicago and the Chicago City Council for historic buildings and other sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, architectural, artistic, cultural,...
on October 2, 1991. In 2009 the sidewalks and railings on the bridge were replaced, and the bridge was repainted; the design of the new ornamental railings was based on the original 1920 design for the bridge's railings, replacing more utilitarian ones that had been substituted at a later date.
Design and operation
Michigan Avenue Bridge is a double-leaf, double-deck, fixed counterweightCounterweight
A counterweight is an equivalent counterbalancing weight that balances a load.-Uses:A counterweight is often used in traction lifts , cranes and funfair rides...
, trunnion bascule bridge. It was engineered by the Chicago Department of Public Works, Bureau of Engineering; Edward H. Bennett
Edward H. Bennett
Edward Herbert Bennett was an architect and city planner best known for his co-authorship of the 1909 Plan of Chicago.-Biography:Bennett was born in Bristol, England in 1874, and later moved to San Francisco with his family...
was the consulting architect and William A. Mulcahy the chief engineer of construction. At the time of construction it was believed to be the first double-deck bridge ever built to have roadway on both levels; faster non-commercial traffic using the upper deck and slower commercial traffic that served the various industries and docks in the vicinity of the river using the lower deck.
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
, 108 feet (32.9 m) below the river surface, the other 17 piers are sunk to the hardpan
Hardpan
In soil science, agriculture and gardening, hardpan or ouklip is a general term for a dense layer of soil, usually found below the uppermost topsoil layer. There are different types of hardpan, all sharing the general characteristic of being a distinct soil layer that is largely impervious to water...
, which is 80 to 90 ft (24.4 to 27.4 m) below the water level. On the south side of the river one of the freight tunnels of the Chicago Tunnel Company
Chicago Tunnel Company
The Chicago Tunnel Company built a narrow gauge railway freight tunnel network under the downtown of the city of Chicago. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban despite the fact that it operated entirely under central Chicago, did not carry passengers, and was...
had to be re-routed to make room for the tailpit. The counterweights are composed partly of concrete and partly of a concrete composite with rivet punchings; each of the four counterweights weighs 1595 short tons (1,447 MT).
The bridge abutments and the facing of the bridge tender houses are made of Bedford stone
Indiana Limestone
Indiana Limestone, also known as Bedford Limestone is a common regional term for Salem limestone, a geological formation primarily quarried in south central Indiana between Bloomington and Bedford....
. There are four bridge tender houses: the northwest and southeast bridgehouses house the controls for operating the bridge; the northeast and southwest bridgehouses are purely decorative. Two 108 hp motors open and close each of the 3750 short tons (3,401.9 MT) bridge leaves. Originally the bridge was staffed 24 hours a day, and opened up to 3000 times a year to allow ships through, but since the 1970s bridge lifting has been scheduled in the spring and autumn, when the bridge is raised twice weekly to allow sailboats to pass between Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
and inland boat yards where they are stored for the winter.
Decoration
In 1928 sculptures depicting scenes from Chicago's history were added to the outward-facing walls of the four bridgehouses. The sculptures on the northern bridgehouses were commissioned by William Wrigley, Jr., and are by James Earle Fraser: The Discoverers depicts Louis Joliet, Jacques MarquetteJacques Marquette
Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...
and Henri de Tonti
Henri de Tonti
Henri de Tonti was an Italian-born soldier, explorer, and fur trader in the service of France.-Early life:Henri de Tonti, a Sicilian, was mostly likely born near Gaeta, Italy in either 1649 or 1650. He was the son of Lorenzo de Tonti, a financier and former governor of Gaeta...
; The Pioneers depicts John Kinzie
John Kinzie
John Kinzie was one of Chicago's first permanent European settlers. Kinzie Street in Chicago is named after him.-Early life:...
leading a group through the wilderness. The sculptures on the southern bridgehouses were commissioned by the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund, and are by Henry Hering
Henry Hering
Henry Hering was an American sculptor who was born New York City on February 15, 1874 and died there on January 17, 1949.-Early career:He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York...
: Defense depicts a scene from the 1812 Battle of Fort Dearborn; Regeneration depicts workers rebuilding Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned from Sunday, October 8, to early Tuesday, October 10, 1871, killing hundreds and destroying about in Chicago, Illinois. Though the fire was one of the largest U.S...
of 1871.
The bridge is also bedecked with 28 flagpoles, usually flying the flags of the United States, Illinois and Chicago. On special occasions other banners may be displayed.
McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum
The southwest bridgehouse has been converted into a museum. The McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum is a 5-floor, 1613 square feet (149.9 m²) museum that opened on June 10, 2006; it is named for Robert R. McCormickRobert R. McCormick
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick was a member of the McCormick family of Chicago who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper...
, formerly owner of the Chicago Tribune and president of the Chicago Sanitary District. The Robert R. McCormick Foundation was the major donor that helped to provide the $950,000 cost of the formation of the museum. It is run by the Friends of the Chicago River, and includes exhibits on the history of the Chicago River and the bridge. Visitors are also allowed to access the bridge's gear room; during the spring and fall bridge lifting visitors can see the bridge gears in operation as the leaves are raised and lowered. Due to its small size and tight access stairway only 34 people are allowed inside the museum at any one time.