Downtown Wausau's Historic Railroad Bridges

From the time that the lines for railroads were first put down through Wausau in the mid to late 1870s, they have needed a way to cross the river. In the 150 years since then, the Wausau area alone has had many railroad bridges that were used to continue service westward or just to access the sawmills and factories on the islands and Wausau's west side. There were more than a dozen different bridges over the years, but here are a few specific examples of notable bridges used by the railroads in Wausau.

 This photograph taken from the West Bank of the Wisconsin River shows all three spans of the wrecked Barker Stewart Bridge. The East and West spans remain mostly above water and are immediately recognizeable
while the very top of the center span can be seen below city hall's clocktower, just peeking above the water's surface.
Credit: MCHS Photo Collection

The Barker Stewart Chicago Northwestern Railroad Bridge          

Like many of Marathon County’s bridges, the Chicago Northwestern Bridge to Barker Stewart Bridge fell victim to the flood of 1912. In fact, the bridge was completely destroyed by it. All three spans were ripped from their foundations and flung into the river. The two outer spans of the bridge remained partially above water while the middle one was carried further downriver and submerged completely.¹ The Chicago & Northwestern was determined to salvage what they could but concluded that recovering the submerged central span would be too costly.² So while the East and Westernmost spans were placed back on their supports the center span was scrapped and replaced with the current through girder.³

^{The Barker Stewart CNW Bridge as it stands today 
Credit: D. Scott Peterson}

Credit: MCHS Photo Collection

The Barker Stewart Milwaukee Road Bridge          

Railroads are extremely money-conscious industries that have historically operated on the thin line between profitability and deficit. As such they quickly became masters of creative reuse. Anything that could be saved for later reuse generally was, including entire bridges. The Milwaukee Road Bridge to Barker Stewart Island was one such bridge. The bridge, which was assembled in 1908, consists of three spans that originally came from two different, older bridges.⁴ The two outer, deck girder, spans were built in 1899 for the Iowa Central Railroad and used as an overhead railroad crossing in Melbourne, Iowa. The central through girder span was built in 1900 for the Milwaukee Road and originally crossed the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Credit: D. Scott Peterson

The Woodson Park Chicago Northwestern Railroad Bridge          

The Woodson Park railroad bridge between Barker Stewart Island and Clark's Island is undoubtably the most visually striking or Wausau's many railroad bridges. A three span structure consisting of twin skewed lattice trusses and a pair of smaller girder approaches the bridge is not only asthetically fascinating but also extremely rare. The Quadrangle Lattice is a relatively uncommon form of truss bridge on the national scale, however, thanks to the Chicago Northwestern Railroad's propensity towards the use of lattice truss bridges Wausau has not one but two excellent examples of the type the other being the Barker Stewart CNW bridge a short distance away. What sets the Woodson Park Bridge apart from its counterpart on the other side of the island is the fact that both lattice trusses are also skewed, that is, one side of the bridge is noticeably longer than the other and features additional truss panels giving the bridge portals a a very noticable lean to one side. The reason for this unorthodox construction has to do with the piers the bridge rests on. To avoid scouring or undercutting a bridge's piers should ideally be located exactly parallel to steam flow. When a bridge must cross a waterway at an angle, as is the case with the Woodson Park Bridge, then a skewed bridge may be required to allow the piers to be located optimally. As seems to have been the case for the majority of Wausau's railroad bridges, the Woodson Park Bridge is a second hand structure.⁵ The lattice trusses were originally built in 1883 over the Zumbro River in Minnesota. In 1919 they were salvaged and ressembled in Wausau along with a pair of girder spans from an unknown location to create the current Woodson Park Bridge. 

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