Watch the Michigan Avenue Bridge lift from inside the bridge gear room!

UPDATE: Please note that due to bridge improvement activities on the south leaf of the Michigan Avenue Bridge this fall, the Bridgehouse Museum will cancel its fall bridge lift schedule and access to the bridge gear exhibit through the end of the season. Work is expected to take approximately 10 weeks. Museum operations will not be affected beyond the gear viewing area, and the museum will be open regular hours through October 31.

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The adjectives “massive” and “graceful” are seldom used side by side, yet both apply equally to the Michigan Avenue Bridge as it lifts out of the way of sailboats navigating the Chicago River. Friends of the Chicago River invites you to get an insider’s view of Chicago’s most famous movable bridge in action at the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. Starting September 19, 2009, the museum will open on select Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. and every Saturday at 8:30 a.m. through November to give visitors a bridge tender’s view of the bridge lift. Although walk-ins are welcome, visitors are encouraged to make reservations to view the bridge lift, as space is limited. For details, go to our Bridge Lifts page.

Every fall, 20 bridges must lift out of the way as the Chicago River becomes the grand highway on which sailboats return from Lake Michigan to their winter docks. Whether seen from the top of the bridge tower or from the river-level gear room, the bridge lift is an unforgettable experience for grown-ups and children alike. “Standing in the gear room of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, you can feel the anticipation as the gears come to life and the street starts lifting,” explains Margaret Frisbie, Friends’ executive director. “It awes us now as it must have done Chicagoans 89 years ago.”

In the 1909 Plan of Chicago, architect Daniel Burnham envisioned the Michigan Avenue Bridge as a monumental gateway between Chicago’s north and south sides. This grand dream was realized in 1920, when the bridge opened to much fanfare. Since then, the bridge has been lifting out of the way of passing boats in a spectacle of grace in engineering. The gears, driven by a 108-horsepower motor, can lift the 4,200-ton bridge out of the way of passing boats in as little as 30 seconds.

To celebrate the Burnham Plan Centennial, Friends is kicking off this bridge lift season by hosting a lecture about Chicago’s movable bridge legacy at the Bridgehouse Museum on Thursday, September 17 at noon. Chicago: A Living Movable Bridge Museum, presented by author and bridge expert Patrick McBriarty, discusses our city’s movable bridge history and, specifically, that of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, a centerpiece of the Plan. The lecture venue is particularly appropriate, as the Bridgehouse was designed by Burnham Plan co-author Edward H. Bennett. The lecture is free with museum admission. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (312) 939-0490, ext. 23.

The Bridgehouse Museum is located in the five-story southwest tower of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive. The museum’s entrance and the gear room are located on the riverwalk level. The Bridgehouse Museum reveals the history of the Chicago River and introduces people to the marvels of Chicago’s many bridges. The Chicago River’s strategic location led to the rapid development of a metropolis on its banks. By building movable bridges, Chicagoans could unite the city that continued to develop on both sides of the river while not interfering with the river traffic that drove its economy. Each bridge is an engineering marvel, and our city is the cradle for many movable bridge innovations. Today, Chicago has more movable bridges than any other city in the world.

The museum is a project of Friends of the Chicago River, a nonprofit organization with 2,000 members that works to foster the vitality of the Chicago River for the humans, plants, and animals that share its watershed. Friends uses the museum to inform and inspire thousands of visitors to protect and improve the Chicago River. For information on how to become a Friend visit our website at www.chicagoriver.org or by calling Friends of the Chicago River at (312) 939-0490.