As mentioned in the last Pic of the Week article, this month will be devoted to the best bridge photos taken by the late David Backlin. This is one of them.
Tucked away in the wilderness is this small bridge near Sorento, in Bond County, Illinois. The Ripson Bridge is a pin-connected Pratt through truss bridge with Town Lattice portal bracings. Mr. Backlin photographed this structure in 2016 from an oblique angle.
According to information by Nathan Holth of HistoricBridges.org, the bridge was built in 1895, and his guess is it was a product of P.E. Lane in Chicago. Yet there is no information about it in the historic resources and most of the bridge’s dimensions are based on estimates. The main span (through truss) is about 95 feet and the total length of the structure is over 200 feet. The length of the bridge is 12.5 feet. If anybody has more precise information about the structure, please feel free to contact the Chronicles to contribute and the information will be transferred over to bridgehunter.com as soon as the website is online again.
The bridge once had a festival of its own, which was started in 1988 and took place in the fall. However, flooding at the bridge in 2016 led to celebrations to be relocated to Sorento and since then, it has been renamed the Sorental Fall Festival. The bridge is still standing and is the only structure of its kind left in Bond Co. It has been designated a state historical site. It is privately owned and has been posted against trespassing. Access to the bridge is possible only through the homeowner.
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