Postcards from Home

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Crescent Bridge
Rock Island

by Diane Oestreich

The century-old bridge was built and owned by the Davenport, Rock Island and Northwestern Railroad, commonly called the DRI Line. The company was created primarily to pick up and deliver goods to local factories, but it also offered some passenger service.

Approaching from the east in Rock Island, then crossing the river, the tracks turn back toward the east on the Iowa side. The original route went only from Clinton to Davenport then across the bridge to Rock Island and Moline.

A formal welcome and official opening for the Crescent Bridge occurred on Jan. 6, 1900, when a special train arrived from Clinton bearing railroad officials, dignitaries, and reporters. All along its route, cities and towns welcomed it with the sound of bells and factory whistles. In Davenport, a cannon was fired in greeting.

The original train schedule showed the DRI Line making three trips a day back and forth between Rock Island and Clinton. Connections to other railroads also could be made.

In a speech at the Rock Island Club during the grand opening, John Lambert, DRI Line vice president, expressed his vision for the future: Grain from the northwest would move by rail from this area to New Orleans. On the return trip, southern cotton would fill the trains. And then the Quad-Cities would develop its immense potential for water power and build mills to process the raw cotton.

Unfortunately, the dams that were necessary for water power instead were created for navigation, allowing barge transport to replace that of railroads for many items.

Our undated early postcard shows the bridge looking like it does today. Iron trestlework supports the approach to the bridge at the water's edge. Today that approach is on solid land many yards inland.

In the background, the buildings of Rock Island Plow Works are visible. In the foreground, there's a small cove, perhaps created by the bridge abutment, which appears quite popular for small boaters.

Just a bit farther upriver, Rock Island even had a popular riverfront bathing beach in the 1920s. Over the decades, first the lock and dam, and later the levee, have altered the appearance of the river's edge.

Technical details of the bridge? Only one track wide, it was designed by C.F. Loweth and built by the Phoenix Bridge Company. There are seven fixed spans of varying lengths from 200 to 365 feet, and a draw span of 442 feet, for a total length of 2,325 feet. The beautifully shaped draw span is 70 feet high and was operated with Westinghouse equipment.

The bridge landed on Willow Island in Davenport and went from there to the main shore over a steel trestle.

The Phoenix Bridge Company evolved from a small nail factory begun in 1812 in Phoenixville, Penn. By 1841, now the Phoenix Iron Company, it was refining and rolling pig iron. In the 1850s, the company began making structural iron and invented the "Phoenix Column," a hollow wrought iron column formed of sections bolted together. It was extraordinarily strong, so strong that the columns began to be used in bridges.

The Phoenix Bridge Company was created as a subsidiary of Phoenix Iron Works. The company first created "catalog" bridges -- kits that could be assembled from prefabricated parts. Soon, it expanded into building very large and impressive bridges.

Although they were responsible for a surprising number of failed bridges near the turn of the century, the company was nonetheless very successful until the 1920s, when concrete mostly replaced iron in bridges. It remained in business until 1962, making relatively nondescript bridges.

The Crescent Bridge still is used today. The former DRI Line now is part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. Only half a dozen or so trains pass over the bridge each day. That's why the draw span is usually open -- there are more boats and barges than trains.

The bridge also has to be closed for the tender in the little house at the center of the draw span to get to and from work. So take a walk or bike ride on the path and look at the bridge. Notice the different shapes of the spans and the graceful geometry of the draw span. And be sure to wave to the tender -- he's always home.