Foster Bridge

Route 66 at County Road 34, Shirley, IL
Phone:

East < GO > West

In 1909 the Chicago & Alton Railroad made a large cut through the Shirley Hill and lowered the railroad tracks. Before they were lowered the tracks and Route 66 were at about the same level, now the tracks are about 20 feet lower. An interesting fact is that the tracks were lowered as part of installing a second set of tracks, that have since been removed. After lowering the tracks the railroad built a long flight of wooden stairs down from the station to the loading platform.

The piers for the old bridge were still in place in 2017. That bridge still had a wood timber deck in the mid-1970s, leading the Shirley residents and the grain elevator operator to advocate for a new bridge.

Around the time the old bridge was built to cross the cut the depot was moved from the east side of the tracks to the west side. And this spot, just beyond the west end of the 1978 Foster Bridge, is about where the new Shirley Depot was placed. Fortunately the depot was moved to Funks Grove 3 years before this new bridge was built.

This is one of two plaques on the current bridge.

Photo(s): 2017, 2023