Trestle Park
Welcome to Milwaukee’s Trestle Park, opened in 2018 as part of the Riverwalk connecting the mouth of the Milwaukee River through Downtown Milwaukee. This park is located at the site where the Chicago & North Western Railway’s two-track mainline crossed the Milwaukee River over a huge Swing Bridge on its way to the C&NW passenger station that long stood at the East end of Wisconsin Avenue in Downtown Milwaukee.
While it is virtually certain a train will never run through the site again, the park’s design reflects its railroad heritage. Old railroad lights are reused to illuminate the park. The walkways in the park, a mix of wood and concrete pavers, have a linear pattern to reflect the nature of the former railroad track running through the site.
Much of the Riverwalk portion of the park is built on a 150-foot-long by 40-foot-wide trestle structure that sticks out into the Milwaukee River. This was the original landing for trains crossing the Swing Bridge. The trestle allows for some incredible views up and down the river, as well as for closer examination of the Swing Bridge.
Swing Bridge
The C&NW built the Swing Bridge here in 1915, replacing an older swing bridge built in 1890. Weighing more than 800 tons, the massive 243-foot long bridge carried the C&NW’s double track main line.
In 1915 the Swing Bridge carried 100 steam-powered trains per day (an average of four per hour, 24 hours per day) and it was a vital link on the heavily traveled rail route between Milwaukee and Chicago.
The Swing Bridge is a very large Double Warren type overhead truss bridge. The bridge, which is 32 feet wide and 243 feet long, rests on a wood piling and stone abutment and would swing 90 degrees to permit river traffic to pass by it or train traffic to pass over it. The large trusses that rise above the bridge deck on either side of it identify the structure as an overhead truss type and it is further defined by the unique criss-cross pattern of steel work on its two long sides, which is the hallmark of the so-called Double Warren style truss.
Russ Porter photo, 9-1965.Chicago & North Western Historical Society Photo Gallery
Two parallel sets of railroad tracks run across the steel deck. At the top and center of the bridge is a simple, hip-roofed wooden bridge keeper’s house that serves as a vantage point to watch for approaching trains and it contains the controls for moving the big bridge. After crossing the river eastbound, the trains would pass the Interlocing Tower that still exists and into the Third Ward Railyard.
Photo, circa 1953, J. D. Ingle’s collection. Chicago & North Western Historical Society Photo Gallery
The Swing Bridge is believed to be one of the largest of its kind in Wisconsin. The use of this swing bridge sharply declined after C&NW depot was demolished in 1968, though it still saw sporadic use until the last train crossed it in 2006.
The Union Pacific, which purchased the C&NW in 1995 and owns the bridge, continues to maintain the Swing Bridge, although it is unlikely any trains will ever cross it again. Various proposals have been made over the past decade or so to transform the bridge into a usable public space, but none has gotten beyond the concept stage.
For more historical information on the Swing Bridge, and especially on how it was constructed and floated to its current site on pontoons, see the City of Milwaukee Final Designation Study Report supporting the 2005 designation of the Swing Bridge as a City Historic Structure.
Permission for placing this cache granted by Jim Plaisted, Executive Director, Historic Third Ward Association.