150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation's worst

150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation’s worst

Newspapers post-disaster dubbed Dixon’s span “The Truesdell Trap” and “The Patent Wholesale Drowning Machine.” It was shocking how the ironwork had slammed atop victims like a gate.

150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation’s worst

The $75,000 toll bridge opened in January 1869 to great fanfare, even though — just weeks earlier — a similar bridge in Elgin had collapsed.

150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation’s worst

DIXON, Ill. (AP) — Gertie Wadsworth was in the arms of her grandmother that bright day when sunshine dissolved distasteful memories of a long, brutal winter. Christan Goble held the 3 1/2-year-old girl in a crowd of more than 200 on the bridge over the Rock River. After a procession down Galena Avenue from the […]

150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation's worst

It's been 150 years since a bridge in Dixon, Illinois, collapsed.

150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation’s worst

DIXON, Ill. (AP) — Gertie Wadsworth was in the arms of her grandmother that bright day when sunshine dissolved distasteful memories of a long, brutal winter.

150 years later, Dixon bridge tragedy among nation's worst

DIXON, Ill. (AP) -- Gertie Wadsworth was in the arms of her grandmother that bright day when sunshine dissolved distasteful memories of a long, brutal winter. Christan Goble held the 3 1/2-year-old girl in a crowd of more than 200 on the bridge over the Rock River. After a procession down Galena Avenue from the Baptist Church on May 4, 1873, the Rev. J.H. Pratt began baptizing parishioners in the brisk, rapid current.