DuSable Bridge: the Bascule that Changed Everything

Until the Boulevard Link transformed Chicago, "getting bridged" was an acceptable excuse for being late to work

Each week, discover an historic Chicago landmark and meet the people who built the Windy City. Includes audio recorded by Jim Goodrich.

On a sparkling mid-May day in 1920, three men stepped from an automobile and stood before a tiny red, white, and blue ribbon. Ropes held back the crowds as the gents uncovered their heads, one sweeping his signature cowboy hat to his chest. It just happened to be his birthday, and this was going to be one heck of a party.

He pulled out the ceremonial scissors and snipped the silk streamer. Crowds cheered. A band played The Star Spangled Banner and airplanes flew overhead and threw leaflets to the crowds like so much confetti. Fireworks exploded, boats blew whistles and sirens, and the city erupted as one with a sense of gaiety and hope.

The Michigan Avenue Bridge was officially open.

The man with the hat was Mayor William Hale “Big Bill” Thompson and his companions were Board of Local Improvements President Michael J. Faherty and Chicago Plan Commission Chairman Charles H. Wacker. That day, those three may have been the face of this great accomplishment, but this project, this dream, was the result of a city with a plan that had been decades in the making.

Prior to May 14, 1920, the main thoroughfare between the north and south sides of the Chicago River was the inefficient Rush Street Bridge. This swing bridge, the fourth bridge in that location, was a bottleneck of epic proportions. Vehicles and pedestrians would queue up on either side and have to wait while the bridge swung to the center of the river to allow ships to pass, and then wait for it to swing back. Not only did this cause tardiness in the workforce, it was also quite the irritant when one wanted to attend the opera or go shopping at Marshall Field’s.