| 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 State Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation.
2018-
The Bridge Street Bridge is located in the City of Cedarburg in Ozaukee County. It was built in 1881 and was widened in 1929. The engineer is unknown, and its construction is attributed to Burchard Weber.
The structure is a double segmental-arch, ashlar-limestone bridge. The arches spring about 3 ft. above the waterline, each rising about 9 ft. over a span of about 31 ft. The upstream (north) face of the pier displays a rounded cutwater, which was a common element on early nineteenth-century, American bridges, but rare on surviving, Wisconsin, stone arches. This feature links the Bridge Street Bridge to the tradition of classical, American bridge design. The ring stones are slightly-tapered, well-shaped, dressed limestone, about 2 feet in height and 5 to 10 inches in width. In 1929, the bridge was widened with concrete-slab additions on both sides. In 1983, stone-veneer, concrete railings were placed along the parapets; the original railings were pipe-metal. Although these alterations have adversely affected the bridge’s design, the structure remains architecturally significant by virtue of its superior stonework. It is also significant as the oldest, extant, stone-arch, municipal bridge in Wisconsin.
Spanning Cedar Creek on Bridge Street, the structure is in the heart of the old Cedarburg milling district. Like several companion stone structures, it is built of limestone, probably supplied by the local Aschuetz Stone Quarry. The bridge was constructed in 1881 as a replacement for a wood-truss structure washed out by a flood in the same year. It appears in an 1892 birds’-eye view of the city. Since city council minutes and local newspaper files from that period no longer survive, there is no official record of the designer and contractor. The structure has been attributed to Burchard Weber, a local stonemason who built a similar, neighboring, stone-arch bridge (later demolished) across Cedar Creek in 1885. stone arch bridge |
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