Gillespie Street-Clinton River Bridge facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Gillespie Street-Clinton River Bridge
|
|
 |
|
| Location | Gillespie St. over Clinton R., Pontiac, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1936 |
| Architect | Harold H. Corson |
| Architectural style | Concrete Rigid Frame |
| MPS | Highway Bridges of Michigan MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 99001729 |
| Added to NRHP | January 27, 2000 |
The Gillespie Street-Clinton River Bridge is a special bridge in Pontiac, Michigan. It carries Gillespie Street over the Clinton River. This bridge is important because it's one of the first examples of a special type of bridge called a rigid-frame bridge in Michigan. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. This means it's recognized as an important historical structure.
Building the Gillespie Street Bridge
The Gillespie Street-Clinton River Bridge was built in 1936. Before this bridge, there wasn't one at this exact spot. The city of Pontiac decided to make the Clinton River deeper. They also wanted to make Gillespie Street longer.
To build the bridge, the city hired an engineer named Harold Hawley Corson. He was a consulting engineer and had worked for the Michigan State Highway Department. At the time, he was also the city engineer for Birmingham, Michigan.
Corson designed this bridge as a rigid-frame bridge. This was a fairly new type of bridge design in Michigan. It had only been introduced in the early 1930s.
What the Bridge Looks Like
The Gillespie Street bridge is a rigid-frame bridge. This means its main parts, like the deck and the supports, are built as one strong unit. This makes the bridge very sturdy.
The bridge has shallow sections called spandrels. These are the parts that fill the space between the arch and the flat roadway above. On this bridge, the spandrels have cool designs with panels that are set back a bit.
The bridge is about 34 feet long. It crosses a channel that is 33 feet wide. The total width of the bridge is 50.5 feet. The part where cars drive is 36.5 feet wide. There are also sidewalks on each side for people to walk on. The railings along the sides are simple metal panels. They connect to chain link fencing at the ends.
