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Wynkoop Street Railroad Bridge - #25
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Architectural style: Iron Through Truss Railroad Bridge Built: 1908 Architects: Pennsylvania Steel Company |
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Cherry Creek, named for the chokecherries that grew wild along its banks, was usually a small, shallow trickle of water, which led the area's settlers to believe it would be safe to build in its creek bed. But weather showed the error in this thinking by letting loose six major floods between 1864 and 1965, which often destroyed the railroad bridges. Especially devastating was the flood of 1878, which whipped all the bridges along Cherry Creek. After the 1885 flood, the city, the railroads, and area businesses channeled, walled, and bricked the creek. By 1907-08 the lower downtown area was completed. The hope was that this would prevent any further destruction. Cherry Creek has had only seven bridges built by the railroads since 1887, five are still standing, although only two are in use by the railroads. Bridges before the flood of 1878 were pile trestles. After the 1885 flood, iron and steel replaced the pile construction. The Wynkoop Street Bridge was originally a pile trestle with a length of 352 feet. After being destroyed in the 1878 flood, a new small truss bridge was built before this 1908 version was constructed. Fitted for single track by the Penn Street Company for use by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, the bridge is 109 feet long. Very little has changed since its original construction, except that the bridge was shifted on its foundation in 1914 and new stringers were added in 1954. Dr. Emanual Salzman, one of the original pioneers of urban loft living in Lower Downtown, as president of the St. Charles Neighborhood Group spearheaded an effort to rehabilitate the Wynkoop Railroad Bridge. The bridge now provides easy access for cyclists and pedestrians from the Cherry Creek and Platte River Greenway to the main pedestrian entrance to Coors Field on Wynkoop Street, and access from Lower Downtown to Elitch Gardens. |
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