Historical Images of Porter County

The Old Bridge at the Bailly Homestead
Baillytown, Indiana

Date: 1936
Source Type: Postcard
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: Brooks and Chapek (#707)
Postmark: November 1, 1936, Youngstown, Ohio
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: The bridge seen in this postcard image spanned the Little Calumet River on what is known today as Howe Road; the bridge was referred to as Howe Bridge. The bridge was constructed by Lane Bridge & Iron Works of Chicago in 1895. This bridge collapsed and was destroyed during bridge repa operations on November 9, 1953. Tri-State Steel Company was contracted for the repairs. However, the Porter County Highway Department's crane went through the bridge causing it to collpase. Newspaper reports that the "No one was injured, but the bridge was totally destroyed." Lane Bridge & Iron Works built several iron span bridges throughout Porter County during the mid-1890s using iron repurposed from dismantled buildings erected for the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Today [2023], only one bridge that this company erected, Dunn's Bridge over the Kankakee River, is still standing.

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Image and related text prepared by Steven R. Shook