website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
The Milwaukee Street Bridge
1889-1930: Iron Bridge
1930-2005: Concrete Arch Bridge - A
Luten-designed bridge
1854
11 16 A
New Bridge – Below we give, in full, a petition asking the Common Council
of this city to make provisions for the construction of a new bridge over Rock
River, at a point near where the Milwaukee and Watertown Railroad will cross
that stream. Without at all pretending to any familiarity with the public wants of this community,
but so far as business facilities of this kind are concerned, we will take the
liberty to remark, that this seems to us to be a request that well deserves the
candid and impartial consideration of our city government. That there is a growing and increasing demand
for such a structure at the proposed place, appears to
be certain.
When
the Railroad shall be completed and in full operation – and especially if there
is to be a station on each side of the river, as we understand is now in
contemplation – there will be yet more urgent reasons for a bridge somewhere in
that immediate vicinity. The thousands
who will throng around the ware houses that are now being put up there, should not be compelled to go and come a third of a
mile each way merely for the purpose of passing from one side of the river to
the other. Every convenience within the
power of the city authorities should be extended to those who come here to sell
or store the products of the soil or shop, to be exchanged for merchandize or sent abroad for money. If anything that has
a tendency to improve or build up one part of our city, will
also, as a necessary consequence, have a more or less directly beneficial
tendency to help every other portion
To the
Honorable Council of the City of Watertown:
The
undersigned, residents and taxpayers of said city,
would respectfully represent to your honorable body, that a new bridge across
Rock River, on Western Avenue, in said city, is necessary for the convenience
of the inhabitants of said city, for the following reasons:
1st: That in a short time, the present and only
bridge across Rock river will be useless by reason of decay, and will be
removed to make place for one more suitable for the grade of Main Street, and
for the convenience of the public; and if so removed before another is built
across said river, it would be a great and serious inconvenience to the
business portion of the said city.
2nd: That a great
proportion of the business of said city is done in the southern part of said
city; and the probability is that the greater part of the business of said city
will be done in the southern part thereof.
3rd: That the business
of all the city requires that there should be a free inter-communication
between every part thereof, by the necessary streets, bridges, etc.
4th: That such a bridge
across the widest and pleasantest street in the city, would equally benefit
every portion of its inhabitants, and the public generally
5th: That it is
customary in all regulated towns to make such great public improvements at the
expense of and by tax upon all persons to be benefitted by the same . . . WD
1888
Watertown Gazette, 07 27 1888.
Board
of Street Commissioners:
Resolved,
That a bridge be built across Rock River connecting Milwaukee Street on the
east side and Spring Street on the west side of said Rock River, and that the
Committee on Streets and Bridges be and is hereby instructed to procure plans
and specifications for an iron bridge as well as for an arched stone bridge.
_________________________________________________________
Based in part on article contributed by
Ben Feld
Edited and annotated by Ken Riedl
It is
safe to say that throughout the first one hundred years of Watertown’s
existence, things did not often happen quickly and
many things did not turn out as envisioned by the city officials.
That
was certainly true about the bridges of Watertown. At least two were talked about frequently and
discussed in council meetings, but nothing was ever done about them. One, the proposed bridge from the south end
of Washington Street across the river to Waldrow
Street, was seen as creating a better and more direct
communication between the city and the road leading to Jefferson. All preliminary steps to the construction of
such a bridge were taken but the city was powerless to overcome the objection
by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway company to a crossing over their
tracks at the intersection of the proposed thoroughfare and the railroad. All efforts to reach an agreement with the
railroad had failed.
As
early as 1848 a bridge from the south (western) end of Western Avenue across
the river to a yet-to-be-built street, seemed a
certainty. In fact, in January 1849 the
city council announced a 230-foot bridge would soon be constructed at that
location. With two tracks and boarded
sides, erected at a cost of $600 it would extend Western Avenue all the way
from “the Milwaukee road about one mile east of this village,” across the river
to a point 18 rods west of the river where it would intersect with the road
leading to Aztalan, a road which was to be opened the
summer of 1849.
It was
envisioned that, with the building of the bridge, Western
Avenue would attract retail establishments and that a beautiful, wide
thoroughfare would become the commercial street for the city. But that was not to be. The street was soon recognized as an ideal
residential area, land speculators entered the picture and soon the lots became
too high-priced for retail shops and, with the exception of
one or two corner groceries, it became a residential street with no great need
for a bridge to tie them to the farmland west of the river.
With
the coming of the railroad in 1855 it became apparent that the Main Street bridge and the Cady Street bridge were neither adequate nor
properly located to handle the traffic from west of the river to the
depot. What was needed was a by-pass, as it were.
But it took 33 years for any action to be taken.
In
July, 1888, the city council resolved to build another bridge, this one
connecting Milwaukee Street on the east side with Spring Street on the west
side (name of street before West Spring Street being renamed West Milwaukee)
and the committee on streets and bridges was instructed to procure plans and
specifications for an iron bridge as
well as for an arched stone bridge.
1889
Acting
on the recommendations of that committee, the city council, a few months later,
opted for an “iron bridge” and requested the contractors begin construction as
soon as possible. When no material had
arrived by mid-January, 1889, alderman Racek paid the Milwaukee company a visit
and learned they had been unable to procure the necessary iron from Pittsburgh but they would have it by January 25. It finally did arrive
the second week in February and the building of the long
anticipated bridge began. On
April 6 the bridge was finished, tested and accepted by the city, the Watertown Gazette declaring it “a fine
piece of work, the best bridge in the city, and the least expensive, size and
style considered.”
The
new bridge proved a boon for the townspeople and farmers from west of the
river. No longer was it necessary for
heavily loaded wagons to travel through the business section of town, with its
notoriously muddy streets, on their way to the elevators, which were now much
more accessible. The disappointment of
not having the use of a bridge at the foot of Western Avenue was
alleviated. The Jefferson County board
of supervisors showed their appreciation for the convenience seven months after
the bridge was opened to traffic by appropriating $300 for the purpose of
improving the approaches to the new bridge.
1896
Watertown
had existed nearly half a century as a city before this new iron bridge became
a reality; would the bridge give them trouble-free service for the next
half-century? Hardly! Even with our sophisticated engineering and
construction today, pavements and bridges do deteriorate. Within seven years the planking on this
bridge had deteriorated alarmingly, as a farmer named Zimmer learned one Sunday
in August, 1896, when his horse stepped through a rotting plank and only with
great difficulty was it extricated without serious injury. It was revealed then that it had been common
knowledge for some time that the bridge had been in poor condition for some
time and extensive repairs were needed.
Similar repairs were made many times during the next 35 years.
1900 FISHING
FROM MILWAUKEE STREET BRIDGE
04 27 Boys fishing from Milwaukee street bridge
have been the cause of several runaways this spring, as well as making the
bridge very disagreeable for pedestrians to pass. The walk is also sometimes beastly dirty with
fish scales, blood and bait. Fishing
from the bridges should be prohibited especially when it becomes a public
nuisance. This might be a matter for the
police to look after a little. WG
c.1900
VIEW TO THE EAST
Looking north from bridge, c.1909
Looking south, c.1909
c.1905
Based
on number of vertical supports this is Milwaukee St. Bridge, not N. Second.
c.1910
1911
The Iron Bridge, 1911
c.1917
Milwaukee St bridge in distance,
Rock River, view south of Milwaukee St Bridge, west bank of river, c1917
1929
Watertown
was jolted from its complacency over the permanency of the truss-work of the
iron bridge the morning of February 4, 1929 when a truck driver informed the
city officials that one of the main beams had dropped from a foot to a foot and
a half. Traffic on the bridge was
immediately halted and an inspection was made; an
inspection which revealed that rust had put the bridge in an alarmingly poor
condition, “in some cases the ironwork was holding only by a small margin”.
Now
the city council had its hands full; bids on the new Main Street bridge were in
the process of being considered; a new high school building was being proposed;
the office of an assistant in the city street department was being vacated and
a new one needed to be employed; a new ordinance fixing the salaries of certain
city officials was being enacted; and now it was necessary to consider the
repair or replacement of the Milwaukee Street bridge. Everything nailed down was coming loose! But first things first.
The
city council lost no time in securing the Otto
Biefeld Company to make temporary repairs and in just two days, on February
7, 1929, the bridge was again open to traffic.
During
the next fifteen months the council argued the pros and cons of repairing the
bridge versus replacing it. In June,
1930, they decided to replace the floor of the bridge at a cost of $1200
knowing this was only a stop-gap move and anticipating
the complete replacement of the bridge in a very few years, which a subsequent
report from the state engineers deemed necessary. That report included the good news that the
present stone foundations were good and could be used for a new bridge. It also suggested
that two plate girder spans to fit the present foundations could be designed
and that these would make a suitable and durable bridge and would result in a
great saving of money to the city instead of building an entirely new
substructure and superstructure. The
report also reiterated what had been pointed out to the council when temporary
repairs were discussed, that it would be necessary to
post signs as to maximum speed of traffic loads passing over it and that for
heavy traffic it would be unsafe The
necessity of such action became evident when the old floor was torn up and the
deplorable condition of the substructure became clear. Most of the aldermen, and Mayor Lutovsky, who
at that time was being attacked from all sides for mismanagement of his office,
agreed that in light of repair work being “wasted
economy”, a new bridge made more monetary sense.
_____________________
Watertown
city officials declared the existing Milwaukee Street Bridge unsafe in 1929 and
began considering plans for erecting a steel girder or concrete bridge. Daniel B. Luten, a prominent bridge designer
in Indianapolis, submitted a plan for an open arch concrete span. The Common Council accepted Luten's design
and let the construction contract to the Eau Claire Engineering Company. The firm completed the three-span bridge in
November 1930. The bridge is significant
for its aesthetic lines and for its affiliation with the Indianapolis designer.
1930
It was
a foregone conclusion that, at the council meeting of July 1, 1930, plans for a
new bridge would be formally lost when a resolution authorizing the board of
public works to proceed with the preparation of plans and specifications for a
new span would be voted on. The results
were as anticipated. Then came the task
of selecting an engineer to prepare these preliminary plans and specifications. The selection of E. B. Parson, 419 North
Washington Street, seemed to please all.
The
depressing news that the cost of the span was estimated to be $35,000 (this
being less than 9 months before Black Tuesday,
the day when the stock market crashed setting off the Great Depression
which lasted for a decade) was somewhat tempered by the statement of “one well
known contractor” that this was the ideal time for bridges and other municipal
projects to be built, because contractors on the whole were not busy; “…labor can be had freely and costs as a result will be reduced
in such instances.” He declared that
when bids for $35,000 projects are received, the actual cost would be nearly 15
per cent less.
Not
unexpectedly, preparations for replacing the condemned bridge did not proceed
smoothly. Whereas it was generally
supposed that a concrete structure would be in order, several members of the
council favored another iron bridge and their proposal to secure figures on
such a structure delayed progress another six
weeks. After hearing nothing from the
iron bridge company, Worden-Allen of Milwaukee, for nearly six weeks, Mayor
Lutovsky finally gave them just three days to submit estimates for an iron span
as, he claimed, “not much more time can be wasted if the work is to be
completed this winter.”
The
three-day time limit given by the mayor the last week of July was not observed
by Worden-Allen. The deadline was
extended to August 19, at which time the mayor called a special meeting of the
council (notice being served that afternoon to all aldermen via the police
department). Should the requested
figures not be available by meeting time, the mayor announced, a concrete
structure would be selected by default as time was of the essence, especially
when it was acknowledged that after the decision was made it would take another
three weeks before bids could be accepted for consideration.
Three
sets of plans and specifications were approved at that meeting; those from E.
Parsons of Watertown, those from Worden-Allen, and an unsolicited set of plans
from Daniel B. Luten of Indianapolis for a concrete open arch bridge, a concept
with which the city council was not very familiar. All three plans were accepted and the
preliminary work relating to the official call for bids was put into
action. It was expected it would be at
least six weeks before the board of public works would be in
a position to report on the figures submitted by bidders.
The
unsolicited plans from designer Luten came with the assurance that the city was
not to be charged “one cent” for the plans , not now
or in the event he were to succeed in getting the contract for the construction
of his proposed bridge. In the event of
some other construction firm were to bet the contract
on the Luten plans, that contractor would be permitted to use the full set of
plans and specifications and all other copyrighted data relating to it paying
for the use of such designs. The Watertown Daily Times of August 20,
1930, stated that “in the event the successful bidder bids $35,000 for the
bridge that is all it will cost the city, there being no extra charge to the
city for the Luten plans”. Luten’s
representative assured the city council that the plan has been carried out
successfully in other cities and had worked out very satisfactorily. The council was much
impressed with the 46-page booklet, containing views of bridges designed by Mr.
Luten and giving information concerning them, which was shown to the council.
It was
the general agreement that work on the new bridge could not possibly begin
before the middle of September and it would take from three and a half to four months to construct the new span. It was estimated that the costs of the three
sets of plans and specifications for the bridge would cost $1500 or less
depending on the amount to be paid E. Parsons, whose contract called for a
payment of three per cent of the total bridge cost but limited to no more than
$900.
In the
midst of consideration of the fee to be paid for plans and specifications for
the Milwaukee Street bridge, the $400 fee paid for similar work on the North
Fourth Street bridge was brought into question.
It was hinted that some chicanery was involved some years ago when the
city engineer had invited the former engineer for the state highway commission
to conduct a survey of the city’s bridges and found, to everyone’s surprise,
that the North Fourth Street bridge had to be replaced at once.
The
bids from 14 contractors were opened in the council room crowded with
spectators and contractors the night of September 4, 1930. Twenty-six bids had been
received on the three types of structures.
The lowest bid filed was for the steel bridge designed by the
Worden-Allen company. It was for $31,000
which was only 11.5%, not 15% less than the predicted $35,000 as estimated by
“a well-known contractor” in July. The
bids revealed that 12 contractors were interested in constructing a concrete
girder bridge, while 8 favored the concrete arch and only 6 the steel
bridge. Two local contractors entered
bids: George C. Lehman submitted only one bid, an even $35,000 on the concrete
girder type, while Maas Bros. entered a bid for all three types, theirs being
the third lowest bid for the concrete arch, the Luten design, which had met
with immense favor among officials.
When
the council meeting convened Friday, September 5, there was no doubt the
contract would be awarded to the Eau Claire Construction Company but since they
had bid the same amount of $30,800 for both the concrete arch type bridge
designed by Mr. Luten, and the concrete girder type designed by E. B. Parsons
of Watertown, the concrete girder type, a decision had to be made - would the
new Milwaukee Street bridge be concrete arch type or concrete girder type? By unanimous vote the contract for the
concrete arch type bridge was awarded to the Eau Claire contractor using Mr.
Luten’s design, the contractor announcing that work would begin on Monday,
September 8 with the tearing down of the present structure.
A foot bridge, they announced, would be built across the river south of
the old bridge and at a lower level using the old span to permit pedestrians to
pass while the new structure was in the building. The company was allotting 100 working days
for the completion of the work
making the target date for opening the bridge to traffic early December. The railing on the bridge, it was
decided, were not to be placed until spring weather arrives, temporary railings
to be placed during the winter weather.
The final date for completion, which included the placing of the
railings, was set as April 15, 1931. The
bridge selected by the council had a weight capacity of 20 tons. Not surprisingly for those familiar with the
depression of the 30’s, although quite a number of
local men were to be employed on the job, the number of applications for work
far exceeded the need for employees. As
the work progressed, more local laborers were to be employed.
A few days
after the commencement of the work, the Watertown
Daily Times, in an uncharacteristically jovial tone carried this item:
The
Milwaukee Street Bridge is being torn down and now [that] the wreckers have
gone to it with vim and vigor the old structure seems to have been in a more
deplorable condition the most pessimistic reports indicated. The other night the
question arose in the council about what is to be done with the old bridge and
that is to be left to the contractor.
Just so long as they don’t haul it to the Seventh ward dump everything
will be O.K. They have been hauling
everything else there from wrecked automobiles to dead horses, so a bridge
wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for that monstrosity. WDT Sept. 9, 1930
Construction proceeded at a steady and
rapid pace during September and the first week in October when rain caused a
short cessation of works. The concrete slab was poured the third week
in October and after three weeks of setting the bridge
was ready for traffic. As had been
agreed upon previously, the erection of the side rails was still being
postponed until the arrival of warm weather in the spring. Lee E. Williams, bridge expert for the Luten
engineering enterprise, which provided the plans, and
specifications for the structure had been on the scene from time to time
watching the progress of the work.
Unofficially he had inspected the Main Street bridge and had come up
with a plan for a new bridge there.
The
last of the concrete was poured October 18, which, allowing for sufficient time
for the concrete to set, was expected to make it possible to have the bridge
ready for use on Thanksgiving Day.
Unusually favorable weather permitted a change in plans
and it was decided to install the permanent railing, the casting of which was
to begin by October 22.
Tuesday
night, November 18, 1930, a thirty-minute dedicatory exercise at which the
Watertown high school band, directed by Gale Rockwell, performed, was attended
by nearly 1,500 people. The program had
to be brief due to the act that the dedication was to be followed by a regular
meeting of the city council which was present in a body at the ceremonies. Mayor Lutovsky, one of the speakers, lauded
the engineers and the construction company as well as the workers on the job
for their good work and asserted that the bridge was not only a necessity but
also a fine investment and a great improvement for the community. Other speakers included Lee E. Williams,
representing the Lusten engineering enterprises,
Indianapolis, Ind., H. C. Kuhl of the Eau Claire Engineering Co., builders of
the bridge, and Ben King, city engineer.
The ribbons which closed the bridge were cut by the mayor and then the
speakers and representatives of the engineering and construction companies
drove across the new span to mark its official opening. Scores of automobiles joined in the
procession and the new bridge, which cost $30,800, began serving vehicle
traffic a few minutes later.
At the
meeting of the city council that night $6,300 of the remaining amount due the contractor, was paid, the balance of $500 being held
for 30 days in accordance with the usual custom.
Allegations
of mismanagement on the part of the mayor surfaced at that meeting, as they had
at many previous meetings. Alderman
Carey asserted that representatives of 132 railroad men who lived in the city
had told him that the railroads had been slighted and that trucks had been used
to bring the material into the city instead of the trains. The mayor replied that he had the word of the
men in charge of the bridge construction that all material for the bridge had
been brought in by railroad with the exception of the
cement. He added that the material
brought in by train was said to have constituted a major portion and included
lumber, steel and other materials used in the bridge. No further mention is made of these
allegations in subsequent issues of the Watertown
Daily Times.
It is
interesting to note that the first Milwaukee Street bridge served the city for
41 years; the present bridge has, at this writing (2005), served for a little
over 75 years but, admittedly is beginning to show her age.
Maybe
it is time to rethink the all-too-common indictment, “They don’t build them
(bridges) like they used to.”
Maybe they build them better.
___________________________
PLANS/BLUEPRINTS <>Anthony Earl <> I have the plans for this
bridge that was built in 1930
P. A. Glaser, A. H. Stallman, R. W. Lueck, F. H. Lehmann, Ben King.
1940
Pictorial
record, c1940, Library of Congress: [ 1 ]
[ 2 ]
[ 3 ]
1983
05 19 The Milwaukee Street bridge will be closed to
vehicular traffic for about 90 days this summer during rehabilitation
work. The starting date has been
tentatively set for May 31. Plans call
for a concrete overlay on the bridge deck and sidewalks, new steel rails on the
west approach and new blacktop approaches.
Underside structural members, retaining walls and the west abutment will be repaired.
WDT
2006
06 20 DESIGNS
FOR NEW BRIDGE
Residents got the chance to get a firsthand
look at the designs for the new Milwaukee Street bridge over the Rock River
Thursday at a public informational meeting held by representatives from the
firms involved with the reconstruction project.
The new Milwaukee Street bridge will be an open arch structure with a
Texas concrete rail. According to MSA
Professional Services Project Engineer Kevin Ruhland, two other design options
were being considered but the firm decided to go with the open arch structure with
the Texas rail because it best resembled the current platform. Because the Milwaukee Street bridge is listed
on the National Register of Historic Places, the designs for the new bridge had
to be aesthetically similar to the existing structure,
said Emily Pettis, architectural historian for Mead and Hunt Inc. of
Madison. WDT
2007
04 01 BRIDGE RECONSTRUCTION DELAYED
The reconstruction
of the Milwaukee Street bridge has been delayed until next year, partly because
of various environmental and utility problems with the plans, according to city
Engineer Joe Radocay.
One of the main problems deals with the state Department of Natural
Resources’ specification on how the bridge should be demolished and removed,
and Radocay said design engineers are currently
looking at modifying those plans. Radocay also said the DNR brought up concerns about the gas
main in the river near the bridge and two nearby electric utility poles and
that the city is working to fix those problems.
11 07 BRIDGE CLOSURE
The
Milwaukee Street bridge over the Rock River will be closed to traffic starting
in December, according to city Engineer Joe Radocay. The 77-year-old structure will be demolished
starting on Dec. 3 and will not reopen until Sept. 15, 2008. When the work begins a detour route will be
posted and motorists will be asked to follow South Church Street to Main Street
and then to College Avenue, Radocay said. Zenith Tech Inc. of Waukesha has been awarded
the bridge contract and crews have already started the utility work and
clearing the area. Stephen Graetz of
Community Engineering and Building Services of Milwaukee is the project
engineer and MSA Professional Services of Madison designed the new bridge.
Dec BRIDGE DEMOLISHED; TO BE REPLACED
The old Milwaukee Street bridge was a three-span, open
spandrel, reinforced concrete, continuous-rib-arch bridge that had a structure
length of 240 feet. It was constructed
in 1930 by Eau Claire Engineering and designed by Daniel B. Luten.
2008
Image of construction, part of slide show.
11 07 NEW MILWAUKEE STREET BRIDGE
The
new Milwaukee Street bridge over the Rock River reopened to traffic at about 2
p.m. today. The roadway has been closed
since December 2007 when the old bridge was demolished. In 2006 the Milwaukee
Street bridge averaged about 7,200 vehicles per day
and it was expected that number would be the same when it reopens.
The
new Milwaukee Street bridge is an open arch structure with a Texas concrete
rail. Because the Milwaukee Street
bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the designs for
the new bridge had to be aesthetically similar to the
old structure.
The
old Milwaukee Street bridge was a three-span, open spandrel, reinforced
concrete, continuous-rib-arch bridge that had a structure length of 240
feet. It was constructed in 1930 by Eau
Claire Engineering and designed by Daniel B. Luten.
The
new bridge has been expanded to three travel lanes, with two moving east and
one going west. The two eastbound lanes
are about 25 feet wide and the westbound lane is
approximately 15 feet wide. With the
sidewalks and the area for bicycles, the entire bridge is almost 60 feet
wide. The overall width of the old bridge
was 42 feet, which included a 30-foot-wide roadway. The designs also called for the river walk on
the east side of the river to be extended south under the bridge. The stairs to access the river walk from
Milwaukee Street have been replaced with a ramp. Along with the replacement of the bridge, the
project also included the reconstruction of the Milwaukee Street intersections
with South First and South Water streets.
A
southbound right-turn lane has been added to South Water Street, as well as a
second eastbound through lane where it intersects with
Milwaukee Street. The intersection has
also been extended to the south to help smoothen out the three lanes of traffic
on the bridge. The concrete islands at
the intersection of Milwaukee and South First streets have been removed and the
intersection has also been widened.
The
entire project has a cost of $3.1 million and the city will be responsible for
covering 20 percent of the total, which is $620,000. The remaining amount will be covered by state
and federal funding.
City
officials and those involved with the project will hold a ribbon cutting
ceremony on the morning of Nov. 15 to officially celebrate the reopening of the
bridge.
2008
2015
04 10 DIP NETTING FROM THE BRIDGE
Council Proceedings: Update on Dip Netting Permit & Resolution.
A tour and viewing of the Milwaukee Street Bridge took place. Following this,
consensus was to have some sort of barrier or separation type of material to be
in place between any rig apparatus and the bridge railing, so no direct contact
between metal from the rig and the bridge railing would occur. Second, revised permit rules and guidelines
would be adopted and would requiring all of those persons engaging in dip netting to sign. Thirdly, the only bridge designated for dip
netting would be the Milwaukee Street Bridge. Fourth, these guidelines would need to be
updated into the permit rules and guidelines. Fifth, there needs to be an
inspection at the end of March of 2015 as to the condition of the sidewalk and
concrete railing and another by the middle of July, for purposes of a second
assessment of this bridge and its physical condition. Lastly, a motion was made and seconded to
have Alderperson Berg work with the City Attorney on drafting a resolution or
other course of action to allow the continuation of dip netting for 2015 with
the conditions as set forth. In the meantime,
ordinance 13-30, which allows dip netting, will continue. WDT
2016
01 20 DIP NETTING BANNED
The Watertown Common Council voted 5-4 to prohibit
dip netting on the Milwaukee Street bridge.
After further consideration by the public safety committee and the park
and recreation committee, it was determined that issues resulting from dip
netting, primarily damage to the bridge, could not be resolved with any further
regulations or accommodations.
< PORTFOLIO OF PICS
Cross-References:
Engineering
record, Library of Congress: [ 1 ]
[ 3 ]
[ 4 ]
[ 5 ]
[ 6 ]
[ 7 ]
[ 8 ]
Watertown
Daily Times, 2005 article
1893 DORNFELD-KUNERT BUILT SOCK ROAD BRIDGE
NEAR LOWELL,
design same/similar to North Second St. and Milwaukee St. bridges
WHS_006_773
Dornfeld-Kunert also constructed the former iron and
steel bridge over Rock River on Oconomowoc
Ave.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin