‘A crack, a fall and a shriek’ – Program revisits ‘Dixon’s darkest day’

DIXON – The collapse of the Truesdell Bridge nearly 144 years ago could be seen as one of the worst of its kind in U.S. history.

Local professional speaker Tom Wadsworth detailed the disaster pegged as "Dixon's darkest day" Tuesday for the annual Founders Day' Celebration hosted by the Lee County Historical and Genealogical Society and Dixon Main Street.

On May 4, 1873, a large crowd had gathered on the bridge to see baptisms performed in the Rock River below, a spectacle that quickly turned to terror as dozens fell into a deathtrap of water and iron when the bridge collapsed.

"All of a sudden, three things happened," he said. "A crack, a fall and a shriek."

An estimated 45 people died in the collapse – the majority being women and children – and the list of injured tallied 56.

Wadsworth said it was a scene of underwater chaos as people pulled one another below in an attempt to reach the surface, and iron debris encased others, trapping them just inches from the top.

"It was a horrific event," he said.

The Truesdell Bridge collapse doesn't appear on a list of the nation's worst bridge disasters, but Wadsworth said it would make a formidable addition.

Topping the list of vehicle bridge failures is the 1967 collapse in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, which killed 46 and injured 9.

Dixon didn't have electricity, paved roads or automobiles, but the toll bridge was vital in carrying wagon and foot traffic across the river in a city that had grown to a population of about 4,000 people by that time.

It was the city's ninth bridge across 2 decades. The first eight were wooden structures reported to have "collapsed like toothpicks whenever the river went on one of its frequent rampages," Wadsworth cited from Telegraph archives.

Self-purported engineer L. E. Truesdell developed a patent for the iron truss bridge in 1856, a design said to be "unequalled for strength and symmetry" that was replicated in Chicago, Belvidere, Clintonville, Geneva and Elgin in addition to Dixon.

"Having a patent doesn't mean it's going to work," Wadsworth said.

Shortly after the Truesdell Bridge was dedicated in January 1869, the Elgin Bridge collapsed in July, leaving 30 to 40 people injured and one dead.

"There was reason for concern then, but it was all dismissed," he said.

When the Dixon bridge collapsed, many people manned boats and helped pull those clinging to planks ashore, including 16-year-old Will Schuler, whose story was passed to generations that followed.

Dixon resident Bonnie Collins, Schuler's 87-year-old granddaughter, grew up hearing about the bridge collapse.

"My grandfather kept telling us the story of how he saved several people over and over again," she said. "He had so many stories, but it was his most famous to tell."

She said Schuler would swim across the river in Lowell Park every year, well into his 80s.

Prior to Tuesday's program, which drew more than 100 people to the Northwest Territory Historic Center, Jeff Lovett was posthumously awarded the Langan Award for excellence in preserving the history and heritage of Dixon.

Lovett, one of three regional market presidents of Midland States Bank and leader of several community organizations, died in July.

His wife, Lisa, accepted the award on his behalf.