January 26, 1923 – A Chicago Daily Tribune editorial strongly
supports replacement of movable bridges in the city with permanent “fixed”
bridges. “So long as we allow dredges,
tugs, freighters, and other craft to steam through the heart of the city,” the
editorial begins, “blocking main streams of traffic at every street which they
cross, we will allow an unnecessary handicap to be imposed upon our growth,
prosperity, and comfort. That is not
wise city building.” [Chicago Daily Tribune,
January 26, 1923] Replacing the movable bridges could be devastating to
owners of elevators, lumber yards, and other freight concerns with valuable
property along the river, the editorial concedes, but for the benefit of the
entire city, the editorial goes on to add, it would be worth it to condemn the
property in question and pay for the owners a fair rate. “The general welfare of the city is more
important than any fancied rights, based upon custom, of these property
owners,” the editorial states. “Probably
it would not only pay the city through stimulation of growth and easier
circulation of traffic but would return cash dividends through greatly reduced
expenditures for bridge construction, operation, and maintenance.” The editorial concludes, “Fixed bridges are a
logical development of a greater Chicago.
We may as well begin to make up our minds to that development and prepare
for it.” The city is still preparing …
every bridge on the main stem of the river and the south branch still swings
open – although on a far less intrusive and far more regulated schedule than
was the case in 1923.
January 26, 1953 – Chief city bridge tender Edward Scott brings news that an era on the Chicago River may be passing, saying that 16 of the city’s bridge tenders averaged less than one bridge opening a week during 1952. The bridges on the north branch of the river at Cortland Street, Webster Avenue, Ashland Avenue, Fullerton Avenue, Damen Avenue, Diversey Parkway, Western Avenue and Belmont Avenue opened for a total of only 800 “swings” during the entire year, an average of only 50 bridge openings per man for Scott’s crew. Since the preceding February these bridges have been left unmanned, and when passage up or down the river was required, bridge tenders moved from bridge to bridge in city cars. The city seems to be moving in the direction of erecting fixed bridges in these locations because of the scarcity of traffic on the once busy north branch. In a related development the Great Lakes division and Chicago district army engineers have offered the opinion that the dredging of the river north of North Avenue from 9 feet to 18 feet is unnecessary, a move that the city itself once supported but is now against. The oldest trunnion bascule bridge in the city at Cortland Street is shown in the above photo.
January 26, 1865 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson gives a lecture, entitled "Education," at Unity Church, the second of six that he will give in Chicago. The Chicago Daily Tribune describes Emerson as "a plain unaffected gentleman, [who] speaks with marked emphasis and with the utmost propriety, without gesture, and looks more like an educated well to do farmer than the highly cultivated scholarly lecturer."
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