Airtight Bridge
Airtight Bridge | |
Eastern portal | |
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Nearest city | Charleston, IL |
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Coordinates | 39°32′56.75″N 88°5′35.75″W / 39.5490972°N 88.0932639°WCoordinates: 39°32′56.75″N 88°5′35.75″W / 39.5490972°N 88.0932639°W |
Built | 1914 |
Architect | Claude L. James |
MPS | Coles County Highway Bridges Over the Embarras River TR |
NRHP Reference # | 81000211 [1] |
Added to NRHP | November 30, 1981 |
Airtight Bridge | |
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Coordinates | 39°33′18″N 88°05′22″W / 39.55500°N 88.08944°W |
Carries | Township road 275 |
Crosses | Embarras River |
Locale | 8 miles NE of Charleston, Illinois |
ID number | 3165 |
Characteristics | |
Design | Pratt through truss |
Total length | 188 feet 4 inches |
Width | 15 feet 7 inches |
Clearance above | 13 feet 7 inches |
History | |
Opened | 1914 |
The Airtight Bridge is a steel bridge spanning the Embarras River in Coles County, Illinois, in the United States 8 miles (13 km) north of Charleston, Illinois. The bridge is a Pratt through truss bridge with a steel structure, a wooden deck, and concrete piers. The bridge was built in 1914 by the Decatur Bridge Company and designed by engineer Claude L. James.[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.[1] It reportedly got its name from the unnatural stillness encountered when crossing it.
In 1980, a dismembered corpse was found on the east bank of the river 30 yards downstream from the bridge, causing quite a stir in the local media. Police investigated for years, but were unable to determine the identity of the victim until 1992, when DNA testing produced a match to a missing person from Kankakee, Illinois. The murder is now in the cold case file of the Illinois State Police.[3]
Notes
- 1 2 National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ↑ "Bridge Inventory Form: Airtight Bridge" (PDF). Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
- ↑ Clark, Bonnie (December 5, 2008). "Airtight Bridge murder victim honored by daughter who barely knew her". Journal Gazette & Times-Courier. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
External links
- Airtight Bridge at the Association for the Preservation of Historic Coles County Illinois
- Airtight Bridge at the Legends and Lore of Illinois
- Murder at the Airtight Bridge
- Airtight Bridge Murder Mystery (Archived 2009-10-24)
- Jonathon Kirk's Experimental Radio Documentary focused on the murder at Airtight Bridge