Kinzie Street railroad bridge
The Chicago and North Western Railway's Kinzie Street railroad bridge (also known as the Carroll Avenue bridge or the Chicago and North Western Railroad Bridge) is a single leaf bascule bridge across the north branch of the Chicago River in downtown Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its opening in 1908 it was the world's longest and heaviest bascule bridge. The previous bridges on the same site included a pedestrian span that was the first bridge across the Chicago River; a second bridge that served as Chicago's first railroad bridge; and a third bridge that was one of the first all-steel spans in the United States. The Chicago Sun-Times, the last railroad customer to the east of the bridge, moved their printing plant out of downtown Chicago in 2000, and the bridge has been unused since. It was designated a Chicago Landmark in 2007. The bridge is lowered once a year and inspected by crew driving a Hi-Rail truck, and is still in "active" status. Location The Kinzie Street railroad bridge runs in an east-west orientation, spanning the north branch Chicago River between the Near North Side and Near West Side community areas of Chicago. To the south is the historic area of Wolf Point at the confluence of the main stem of the Chicago River with the north and south branches, and to the east is 350 West Mart Center and Merchandise Mart. The railroad track across the bridge is a spur line of the Union Pacific Railroad, that branches off from the route of the Union Pacific/North Line about northwest of the bridge. The railroad to the east of the bridge has no customers since 2000. Previous bridges Through the 1820s a small settlement grew around Wolf Point, at the forks of the Chicago River. In June 1829, Samuel Miller—who owned a tavern on the north shore of the river beside the forks—and Archibald Clybourne were authorized to run a ferry across the mouth of the north branch of the river, just south of the present Kinzie Street. By 1832 the ferry had been replaced with a pedestrian bridge that was the first bridge to be constructed across the Chicago River. On October 10, 1848 the Galena and Chicago Union Railroad—Chicago's first railroad—began operating out of a depot on the west side of the Chicago River, near the corner of Canal and Kinzie Streets. Though the City of Chicago had authorized the railroad to construct a bridge across the north branch of the river as early as July 17, 1848, it was not until 1851 that the railroad began to purchase the land needed to build the Wells Street Station to the east of the river. In order to access the new station a floating pontoon bridge designed by Jenks D. Perkins was built across the north branch at roughly the same location as the earlier pedestrian bridge. This bridge—the first railroad bridge in Chicago—was completed in 1852, allowing trains to access the railroad's new Wells Street Station