NYC bridge over IC at Grande Crossing - Chicago

In 1911 the NYC & PRR built a bridge over the Illinois Central at Grande Crossing in Chicago near E. 75th Street. The NYC & PRR bridge was built in 1911. This was part of the Illinois Centrals elimination of all grade crossings in the Chicago area.

My question is. Do you know who built the New York Central bridge? Bates & Rogers Construction Corporation out of Chicago built almost all of the IC at grade crossings in the Chicago area and suburbs for 50 miles. It makes sense that they probably built the Nickel RR bridge also. Its possible that the IC paid for the construction of this bridge. I doubt it though.

My interest is due to the fact that five generations of my family worked for Bates & Rogers and my grandfather was working for them in this time period.

You may want to check the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) or the Library of Congress. If the bridge still exists, the owning railroad maybe able to give the name of the original contractor. During timeframe of the bridge's construction these were the main steel bridge manufacturers - American Bridge Company, King Iron Bridge & Manufacturing Company and Phoenix Bridge Company.

Terry, really cool topic. I'm a Chicagoan as well, and I love hearing about how the south side was built. If you find out anything else please let us know.

Edit: according to this site, B&R did build this big four bridge: http://bridgehunter.com/category/builde ... uction-co/

Tadman wrote:Terry, really cool topic. I'm a Chicagoan as well, and I love hearing about how the south side was built. If you find out anything else please let us know.

Edit: according to this site, B&R did build this big four bridge: http://bridgehunter.com/category/builde ... uction-co/

The latest I've been able to find is that Bates & Rogers built the retaining walls on the IC south from Randolph Street Station but, not the bridges over the top ( Congress, Jackson, Monroe, etc.
Also, they built the retaining walls north from the Chicago Northwestern Station and then west to Halstead.