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This bridge has served this area since 1871 except for a period after its floor and approaches were destroyed by fire. It was built as a Railroad Bridge for the Rock Island Line, and later the Chicago Great Western, by a Chicago contractor and financed by a Dutch syndicate. It is constructed of wrought and cast iron and engineers say its life expectancy has no precedent. It was burned and abandoned in 1913 and reopened June 16, 1926, as a highway bridge after the justice Department took charge of the property, to provide free passage between the federal prison and the prison farm in Missouri. It will be dismantled when a water main to the prison farm is rerouted. |
