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Salute to Dearborn Street Bridge
Poor Dearborn Street. Living in the shadow of its more famous neighbor, State Street. “That great street,” according to some singer named Sinatra.
But what about Dearborn Street? When is someone going to write a song about it? Did you know that in 1963, the American Institute of Steel honored the Dearborn Street Bridge with its Most Beautiful Steel Bridge award?
Chicago’s first movable bridge over the river was constructed at Dearborn Street in 1834. There have been four Dearborn Street bridges, with the latest version – a bascule bridge – completed on October 23, 1963.
It is 340 feet long, 56 feet wide, 21 feet over the Chicago River, and weighs 2,100 tons. Its Illinois bridge number is IL 016-6014. When last inspected in 2006, it received satisfactory and fair ratings and a sufficiency rating of 65 out of 100.
Every day, 15,200 vehicles and 5,205 pedestrians cross the Dearborn Street Bridge. It is raised 43 times a year.
To help end this injustice, Marina City Online went out last week to try to capture the beauty of that other great street, Dearborn.
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Mid-afternoon last Wednesday from Wacker Drive west of Dearborn Street, looking toward Marina City. On the left, Westin Chicago River North. A Chicago Water Taxi, Bravo, piloted by Captain Doug Chyna, is traveling west, bearing down on a dock near LaSalle & Clark Streets, one block east of Merchandise Mart.
Click on images to view larger versions.
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Moments later, a smaller water taxi appears from the west, about to pass the Wendella sightseeing boat Ouilmette, seen here emerging under the Dearborn Street bridge.
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(Left) Wendella boat Marquette in foreground.
(Right) A view looking across the bridge, with Marina City on the left and buildings along Wacker Drive in the distance.
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The massive parking ramp of the west tower at Marina City, seen here from the southwest corner of the bridge.
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(Left) Another view of the bridge from back on Wacker.
(Right) More of the west tower is seen in this vertical orientation. At left, one of the crossing gates, in the raised position.
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The west tower at Marina City, House of Blues, and Hotel Sax along Dearborn.
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The bridge survived a collision by a steamer, the Torondoc, in 1957. The Torondoc had made it through four other bridges but due to a slight malfunction, the Dearborn bridge did not raise high enough and nine thousand dollars in damage to the bridge resulted.
Dearborn Street is named for Henry Dearborn, who was Secretary of War under President Jefferson.
Photographs by Steven Dahlman.
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