| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation.
HAER WI-21. Moved from Milford.
It links the "mainland" of Watertown with Tivoli Island, a city park. Tivoli Island was purchased in 1874 by the Concordia Society, the musical group in Watertown. Named Concordia Island, it was a popular recreational spot of the nineteenth century. Later in private hands, it was renamed Tivoli Island and in 1960 the island was purchased by the city of Watertown and added to its parks system. The bridge is a rare bowstring arch-truss type, or which only six are known to be extant in Wisconsin. In fact, it is the only known double-span bowstring arch-truss in the state.
One of Wisconsin’s few surviving bowstring bridges, this one is also the state's last remaining tubular-arch bridge, a design patented by Zenus King in 1866. King asserted in his patent claim that if the top chord of the arch was wider at the ends and narrower at the center, it would result in a stronger structure. This innovative technology helped make the inventor’s Cleveland-based company a leading manufacturer of bowstrings and swing bridges through 1880. The firm offered other selling points, too: its bowstrings were lighter and thus cheaper to build than other iron bridges, and its use of prefabricated parts meant still more savings for the customer.
Workers assembled this bridge in 1877, piecing together the joints with pin connectors, except in the topmost chord, where they used rivets to connect the plates. Originally, the structure was four spans long and could accommodate both horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians. It probably crossed the Crawfish River at the tiny community of Milford, some six miles to the southwest.
By 1906, the bridge had begun to deteriorate, so the village of Milford auctioned it off. Ernest and Fred Ohm acquired half of the bridge--two spans, one six feet longer than the other--and moved this shortened version to its current location, creating pedestrian access to the Ohms’ Tivoli Island bowling and beer garden on the Rock River. The revelry ended with the advent of Prohibition, but in 1961, the city of Watertown purchased the island, established a city park, and redecked the bridge.
This bridge is significant primarily for architecture. But it has some historical interest as the bridge that linked Watertown with this popular nineteenth century recreation spot.
Located on the Rock River Tivoli Island and Tivoli Drive south of the East Main Street Bridge, the Tivolis Island Bridge is a two-span bowstring bridge characterized by a deck near the bottom cord. Part arch and part truss, the Tivoli Island Bridge is supported by concrete piers. Presently, the bridge built during the 1890s is used mainly for a walkway to Tivoli Island.
The Tivoli Island Bridge is significant under criterion C as an example of the bowstring bridge, a type of a Pony truss bridge constructed in the 1890s. Only one of seven bridges of this type to remain in Wisconsin, this bridge is a two-span arched iron bridge with wood and iron deck. Five examples of this bridge type are located in the Van Loon Wildlife Area near La Crosse and the remaining known example is in Fond du Lac. pony truss bridge |
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