SHORT ST AND CHIPPEWA RIVER

SHORT ST AND CHIPPEWA RIVER

Eau Claire

Eau Claire

1924

1981,2015

bridge

NA (unknown or not a building)

Parker Truss

Metal

W.c. Buetow

Yes

0

A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office. The Shawtown Bridge, constructed of concrete and steel, is a three span (each span is 175 feet long) riveted Parker through truss bridge. Of special note are the floor beams that are supported on the bottom cords. Built by Stein Construction Co., Milwaukee. "The City of Eau Claire and Shawtown:" "Eau Claire, which is located at the confluence of the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers, evolved as a fledgling lumber milling center prior to the Civil War. After the War and as the lumber resources of the Chippewa River Valley were developed, the municipality grew rapidly. By 1880, the city totaled 10,118 inhabitants and was home to eleven sawmills, which cut over two hundred million board feet of lumber. By 1885, the community's population reached 21,668. Within Eau Claire is an area known as Shawtown - a small community situated in the southwestern part of the city, just south of Half Moon Lake. As its name implies, Shawtown sprouted up around Daniel Shaw's large lumber mill, one of Eau Claire's early prominent manufactories. Shaw platted the area adjacent to his mill in 1869 and called it Westville - although local residents called it Shawtown. Gradually, a small community evolved around the mill, with businesses sprinkled here and there and a snug residential area located at the base of Mount Washington. But soon Shawtown was incorporated into the growing Eau Claire limits as part of the city's Fourth Ward. The Shawtown Bridge: The City of Eau Claire is bisected by the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers. Travel in the community was facilitated during the 1850s as ferry boats operated on both waterways. In 1857, the first bridge across the Eau Claire River was erected. Local citizens discussed the possibility of a bridge spanning the Chippewa River in 1864, but a structure was not built until 1869. By 1880, two bridges crossed the Chippewa, and one traversed the Eau Claire. A bridge also connected Shawtown with the east side of the Chippewa River, but its date of construction is not certain. One source notes there had been a bridge at Shawtown "for some time" before a flood damaged it in 1870. Yet an 1875 map fails to reveal a bridge at that location. In 1882, the city constructed a new bridge there. This structure, nevertheless, did not last long. A devastating flood in September 1884 swept away all of the city's bridges, including the Shawtown Bridge. City officials immediately rebuilt the destroyed thoroughfares - including the Shawtown Bridge. The new bridge was a wooden structure with an eighteen foot roadway and no sidewalk. It had two wooden spans, one measuring 175 feet and the other measuring 275 feet; it was reputedly the longest wooden span in the world. By the 1920s, the Shawtown Bridge needed to be replaced. Its condition had deteriorated to the point that it could no longer safely handle the increased flow of traffic. Plans were developed, the specifications for which called for the new bridge to be built a few feet south of the old one. This enabled traffic to continue on the old bridge during erection of the new structure. The contract for construction was let to the Stein Construction Company of Milwaukee, the firm that was just completing the Madison Street Bridge in Eau Claire. In Late July 1924, Stein began excavating for the bridge abutments and crews started driving piles on 7 August. In October, the two abutments and one of the piers had been finished, and the second pier was under construction. By the end of the year, both approaches to the bridge were completed, all of the steel work was in place and work crews had riveted about one-half of the steel girders together. In the early spring of 1925, crews completed riveting the steel girders and on 29 April, they started pouring concrete for the floor on the bridge. The new bridge was ready for public use on 28 May. The structure was 525 feet long, with three 175-foot spans. The abutments and floor were concrete, while the spans and upper structure were steel. The bridge included a twenty-foot roadway and one six-foot sidewalk. The county and the state split the $85,000 cost of the project. To celebrate the new bridge's opening, local residents, primarily from the Fourth Ward, held a bridge dance on the night of 25 May. They swept the structure clean and sprinkled corn meal on the roadway to smooth out the floor. The festivities started at 9:00p.m. Car lights were directed onto the bridge and the "Shawtown Orchestra" provided music. No formal ceremony was held the following day, but Charles Stein, president of the Stein Construction Company, led a procession of cars across the bridge - soon followed by general traffic. Shortly thereafter, the Eau Claire Leader reported the old bridge was "a thing of the past." Metal truss bridges are largely a phenomenon of post-Civil War industrialization. Early Wisconsin bridges were crude affairs that were susceptible to washouts and damage by ice floes. Although the initial costs were greater, truss bridges were usually permanent structures with minimal maintenance needs. The genius of truss bridge design was its use of the triangular shape to combine short sections of materials into a longer, rigid framework. The truss concept provided for bridges that were simple to design, manufacture and erect, but which had substantial length, strength and longevity. The major structural elements of a truss included end posts, top chords and bottom chords, all of which enclosed a web containing vertical and diagonal members. Depending on the configuration of their webs, most Wisconsin truss bridges are categorized as Pratts or Warrens, after the men who patented each design. Truss bridges utilize two trusses, between which is a traffic deck. With Pony and Overhead trusses, the deck is carried along the lower chord, above which the truss projects. Pony trusses are "U"-shaped fabrications that have no height constraints and were typically used for crossings of 40 to 90 feet. Overhead trusses have additional structural components above the deck and historically facilitated spans of up to 160 feet." (C). This bridge was demolished sometime between 1997 and 2015. Overhead truss bridge

(A) Bridge Plaque. (B) Eau Claire Leader, May 29, 1925. (C) "The Shawtown Bridge, Eau Claire Wisconsin," WisDOT brochure, prepared by Heritage Research, ltd, Menomonee Falls, WI.

Not Listed