The Truesdell bridge tragedy, 150 years ago Thursday, remains the worst vehicular-bridge disaster in American history.
This photo provided by Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society shows the Truesdell Bridge in Dixon, Ill., in 1873. It's been 150 years since the bridge collapsed, remaining the worst road-bridge disaster in American history. On May 4, 1873, a crowd of more than 200 gathered on the bridge to watch a baptism when it toppled over, trapping dozens of victims just inches below the river's surface. The disaster claimed 46 lives and injured dozens of others.
Wadsworth wouldn't be telling the story had Gertie Wadsworth, his great-grandmother, not survived. Family lore holds that as Goble, 51, plunged to her death, she tossed the toddler into the river beyond the reach of the failing superstructure. The tot was rescued downstream. The $75,000 toll bridge opened in January 1869 to great fanfare, even though — just weeks earlier — a Truesdell bridge in Elgin had collapsed. It was repaired and failed again six months later. The Truesdell design carried traffic in other Illinois cities, including Chicago.
The location of the May 4 crowd, clumped on the west walkway, helps explain why four of five fatalities were women, along with many children and teenagers. Chivalrous men surrendered prime bridge viewing spots to women and girls and stepped to the bank, Wadsworth said. Boys climbed atop the trusses. “He started grabbing them by the hair and by the shoulder and by the pants,” Wadsworth said. “He knew what the riverbed was like. He’d walked out there many times for baptism ceremonies, so he knew how far he could get and grab people and he got 10 or 15 himself.”
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150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation's worstIt's been 150 years since a bridge in Dixon, Illinois, collapsed. It remains the worst vehicular-bridge disaster in American history. The Truesdell bridge over the Rock River opened in 1869. It was the first iron bridge in the city. On May 4, 1873, a crowd of more than 200 gathered on the bridge to watch a baptism when it toppled over, trapping dozens of victims just inches below the river's surface. The disaster claimed 46 lives and injured another 56. Tom Wadsworth has studied the disaster. His great-grandmother, Gertie Wadsworth, was a toddler in her grandmother's arms on the bridge that day and survived. He has helped organize a memorial that will be dedicated at the river on Sunday.
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