Abandoned Bridge and it's history. Will it be used again? A Meat Packer purchased once? How about the Big Four known in the Railroad Industry?
See boots on the ground footage here,
Built in 1893 by the Union Bridge Co. of Buffalo, New York in Athens, Pennsylvania.
It was eventually used by the Central Indiana Railway Co.
It's about 100 feet long and spans what is known as Cicero Creek.
According to the Indiana Historical Society,
the Central Indiana Railway Company had origins as the Anderson, Lebanon and St. Louis Railroad
chartered in 1875.
The line was mostly unprofitable from it's beginnings
It was sold and reorganized as the Cleveland, Indiana and St. Louis Railway in 1882.
It was then reorganized as the Midland Railway Company in 1885.
A Chicago attorney, Henry Crawford acquired control of the line in 1891 and
organized as the Chicago and Southeastern Railway.
It was this line that was jointly acquired by the Pennsylvania and Big Four Railroads in 1902
and which was incorporated March 16, 1983 as the Central Indiana Railway Company.
As per Trains.com
Q: Before my father-in-law passed away some years ago, we’d talk about the trains of long ago. As a boy, he loved to watch rail traffic pass by his childhood home in Pana, Ill. He mentioned the “Big Four” rail lines but couldn’t remember what rail lines made up the Big Four. Could you let me know which railroads they were? – Timothy Craver, Lumber Bridge, N.C.
A: The Big Four did not refer to four separate railroads; rather, it was the nickname of one railroad, the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Ry. The “Big Four” nickname referred to the four cities in its name. The CCC&StL was formed in 1889 by the consolidation of the Cincinnati, Indianapolis, St. Louis & Chicago (which some regard as the original Big Four) with the similarly named Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis (also known as the Bee Line). Both of those railroads were themselves formed by a series of mergers and acquisitions between a number of smaller midwestern roads, including the Mad River & Lake Erie; Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati; Indianapolis & Bellefontaine; Terre Haute & Alton; and others. A few years later it took over the Peoria & Eastern Ry. and with it the former Ohio, Indiana & Western.
Back to Cicero Creek Railroad Bridge
The railway ran a distance of 127 miles from Muncie, IN to Brazil, IN.
Mike Duffy, an Anderson, IN meatpacker bought the line in 1951 serving as it's president
in an attempt to revive it with mixed success.
Mike Duffy on left below.
The line became part of the Conrail system for ten years from 1976 to 1986.
But by1986 only a 9 mile segment running from Anderson, IN to Lapel, IN would survive as
the Central Indiana Western Railroad Company.
This section of the railroad where the bridge is located was abandoned in 1982 with the right of way purchase by
the Indiana Transportation Museum.
The museum had dreams to rebuild the line, but those dreams fell through.
In 1991 the City of Noblesville bought the Right of Way with the intent of opening it up as part of the
Midland Trace Pedestrian Trail.
But by January of 2021, use of the bridge with the trail is still up in the air [so to speak].
So what Will the fate of the bridge be?
It is said it will easily be standing for another 130 years even if it's not incorporated into the hiking trail.
From an article at WFYI
In 2023 it states,
A historic bridge in Noblesville was disassembled and moved to Conner Prairie this month.
The Midland Bridge was removed as part of Noblesville’s Reimagine Pleasant Street project. The city developed the plan to improve connectivity and mobility throughout downtown.
Mayor Chris Jensen said Conner Prairie was a logical choice for storage of the old bridge.
“It's not a small little structure, it's quite large. And so, we were able to reach out and talk to our friends at Conner Prairie. They are just south of us on the river and see if they would partner with us to store it for us temporarily and then kind of build it into their long-term plan,” Jensen said.
“They're just natural partners for this type of thing, obviously, because they focus on living history. And so, it worked out well.Jensen said.
Portions of the bridge were fabricated by the Union Bridge Company of Buffalo, New York and Athens, Pennsylvania in 1893. The bridge was eventually used by the Central Indiana Railway Company. The two-span steel through truss bridge is approximately 200 feet long and spans the White River just west of downtown Noblesville.
Plans for a final location of the refurbished, reassembled bridge are still being developed.
“There's always the narrative that communities are growing, growing for the sake of growing and we're going to grow regardless, but we can still do it the right way and honor our history of the county’s bicentennial year. It's the city of Noblesville’s bicentennial year. So, it's really putting a highlight on that history,” Jensen said.
Meanwhile, a new bridge will be built, and the project is expected to be complete by 2025.
https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/historic-bridge-in-noblesville-moves-to-new-location
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — A partnership was formed to preserve an historic railroad bridge over the White River.
Noblesville city government says in a news release that it partnered with Conner Prairie, a pioneer museum in Fishers, to store the Union Bridge Co. structure. The bridge, fabricated in the 1890s, used to carry trains over the river. Noblesville had been using the bridge for its Midland Trace Pedestrian Trail.
The bridge has been removed as part of the Reimagine Pleasant Street project, designed to create a new east-west corridor to help alleviate motor traffic concerns.
https://www.wishtv.com/news/partnership-preserves-former-railroad-bridge-over-white-river-in-noblesville/
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — A partnership was formed to preserve an historic railroad bridge over the White River.
Noblesville city government says in a news release that it partnered with Conner Prairie, a pioneer museum in Fishers, to store the Union Bridge Co. structure. The bridge, fabricated in the 1890s, used to carry trains over the river. Noblesville had been using the bridge for its Midland Trace Pedestrian Trail.
The bridge has been removed as part of the Reimagine Pleasant Street project, designed to create a new east-west corridor to help alleviate motor traffic concerns.
https://www.trains.com/mrr/beginners/ask-trains/ask-mr-what-were-the-big-four-railroads/
https://historyinyourownbackyard.com/video/the-abandoned-cicero-creek-railroad-bridge-noblesville-indiana/
See and hear audio of a short history here,
The Abandoned Cicero Creek Railroad Bridge, Noblesville, Indiana
Just interesting!
Quite interesting what happened throughout "time" concerning Big Business and Transportation!
Check it out, in New York 1800's.