MONROE - It was 1926, and a lot of excitement was happening in the country.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees (4-3) in the World Series. Richard E. Byrd announced that he and pilot Floyd Bennett flew from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back. RCA, General Electric and Westinghouse established NBC, which had two national radio networks. The MGM Studios film, "Flesh and the Devil," a breakout film for Greta Garbo, was released in January and proved to be both provocative and commercially success.
Ethylene glycol solutions, called permanent antifreeze, became available, allowing people to use their cars all year long, and gas prices hovered around 23 cents a gallon (about $2.58 in 2005 dollars).
The Swiss Colony in Monroe received its first order by mail for a cheese gift, and the cost of a first-class stamp was 2 cents.
And a new bridge was put in on the Illinois Central Railroad line to Madison, spanning 8th Street in Monroe.
Since then, much has changed. Garbo died at the age of 84, in 1990. The Swiss Colony has become Colony Brands, Inc., one of the largest direct marketers in the United States of cheese, food gifts and general merchandise.
And even though gas is bouncing to more than $4 a gallon, people still drive in the summer and the winter under the old railroad bridge. The rails are gone, but the track bed is now the Badger State Trail, used by hikers, bicyclists and snowmobilers between Freeport and Madison.
Now 85 years old, the old railroad bridge is coming down, to make way for a new bridge, as part of the city's widening and reconstruction of the 8th and 9th street corridor.
The Badger State Trail at 8th Street is scheduled to be closed today, May 17, and signs will be erected pointing trail users to an alternate route to avoid the construction site.
The old bridge will be gone by Friday, May 20, according to city engineer supervisor Al Gerber.
A crane will lift the bridge, as one unit, off its abutments and lower it to the street where it will be dismantled, as necessary. Gerber said the bridge is owned by the state Department of Transportation, which has the right to dispose of the bridge as it wants.
The new bridge going in on the trail has a box tress structure with wooden floors and sided by chain link fencing. It will be 145 feet long, 50 feet longer than the 1926 bridge, giving the city space below it to widen the street. The bridge will be 12 feet high and 12 feet wide, large enough for DNR maintenance vehicles.
The new bridge will stand farther above 8th Street also, allowing street traffic a clearance of 17 feet and nine inches. The old bridge allowed less than 14 feet of clearance.
The abutments and retaining walls will also be redone during the process of replacing the bridge. In all, the Badger State Trail Bridge replacement will cost about $231,700. The city's share of the cost is $140,000. Federal and state grants will cover the remaining cost.
Gerber said trail users will be directed away from the bridge area during construction. Trail users coming from the south will detour onto 9th Street and turn north at 10th Avenue and proceed to 10th Avenue Circle, through the Red Apple parking lot and back onto the trail.
The new bridge is expected to be reinstalled by the end of June.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees (4-3) in the World Series. Richard E. Byrd announced that he and pilot Floyd Bennett flew from Spitsbergen to the North Pole and back. RCA, General Electric and Westinghouse established NBC, which had two national radio networks. The MGM Studios film, "Flesh and the Devil," a breakout film for Greta Garbo, was released in January and proved to be both provocative and commercially success.
Ethylene glycol solutions, called permanent antifreeze, became available, allowing people to use their cars all year long, and gas prices hovered around 23 cents a gallon (about $2.58 in 2005 dollars).
The Swiss Colony in Monroe received its first order by mail for a cheese gift, and the cost of a first-class stamp was 2 cents.
And a new bridge was put in on the Illinois Central Railroad line to Madison, spanning 8th Street in Monroe.
Since then, much has changed. Garbo died at the age of 84, in 1990. The Swiss Colony has become Colony Brands, Inc., one of the largest direct marketers in the United States of cheese, food gifts and general merchandise.
And even though gas is bouncing to more than $4 a gallon, people still drive in the summer and the winter under the old railroad bridge. The rails are gone, but the track bed is now the Badger State Trail, used by hikers, bicyclists and snowmobilers between Freeport and Madison.
Now 85 years old, the old railroad bridge is coming down, to make way for a new bridge, as part of the city's widening and reconstruction of the 8th and 9th street corridor.
The Badger State Trail at 8th Street is scheduled to be closed today, May 17, and signs will be erected pointing trail users to an alternate route to avoid the construction site.
The old bridge will be gone by Friday, May 20, according to city engineer supervisor Al Gerber.
A crane will lift the bridge, as one unit, off its abutments and lower it to the street where it will be dismantled, as necessary. Gerber said the bridge is owned by the state Department of Transportation, which has the right to dispose of the bridge as it wants.
The new bridge going in on the trail has a box tress structure with wooden floors and sided by chain link fencing. It will be 145 feet long, 50 feet longer than the 1926 bridge, giving the city space below it to widen the street. The bridge will be 12 feet high and 12 feet wide, large enough for DNR maintenance vehicles.
The new bridge will stand farther above 8th Street also, allowing street traffic a clearance of 17 feet and nine inches. The old bridge allowed less than 14 feet of clearance.
The abutments and retaining walls will also be redone during the process of replacing the bridge. In all, the Badger State Trail Bridge replacement will cost about $231,700. The city's share of the cost is $140,000. Federal and state grants will cover the remaining cost.
Gerber said trail users will be directed away from the bridge area during construction. Trail users coming from the south will detour onto 9th Street and turn north at 10th Avenue and proceed to 10th Avenue Circle, through the Red Apple parking lot and back onto the trail.
The new bridge is expected to be reinstalled by the end of June.