The Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge has seen better days. Closed since 2015 due to structural deterioration, this pedestrian bridge provides the only east-west path across Jackson Park between the Museum of Science and Industry at E. 57th Street on the north to almost E. 63rd Street / Hayes Drive on the south end. Its reconstruction and re-opening is welcome news to everyone who uses Jackson Park and especially to 1893 Worldโ€™s Fair enthusiasts who enjoy visiting the old fairgrounds.

Construction of the fairgrounds, showing the original bridge across the isthmus between the Lagoon and North Pond.

During the 1893 Columbian Exposition, a bridge spanned this same location on the isthmus between North Pond (a.k.a. โ€œColumbia Basinโ€) and the Lagoon, allowing visitors to pass between the Brazil and Japan exhibits on the eastern grounds and the Illinois Building on the west side.

Frederick Law Olmstedโ€™s 1895 redesign of Jackson Park included the construction of a wider bridge with a new deck that incorporated some parts of the earlier structure, including the prominent stone abutments and the decorative metal railings. In 1957, this new bridge was re-named the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge, dedicated to the legendary Chicago attorney, Clarence Darrow (1857-1938). A commemorative plaque was added in 1963.

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) reported in August 2017 that after a 2-year search for funding, work would begin in 2019 on repairing the 122-year-old bridge. The price tag? $6 million.

Let that sink in for a minute (the cost, not the bridge). This $6-million restoration project will cost approximately $240,000 in 1893 dollarsโ€”an amount that exceeds the cost of building Henry Ives Cobbโ€™s Fisheries Building ($225,000) and only slightly below the cost of erecting Solon Bemanโ€™s Mines and Mining Building ($265,000). Of course, those were temporary structures, and weโ€™d like for the Darrow Bridge to accommodate park visitors for at least another 120 years.

Image of the Darrow Bridge from the Hyde Park Herald