Shutter to Think: Artwork turns attention toward Dixon’s Truesdell Bridge disaster

The story is a bit like the iron bars Mark Stach fished from depths of the Rock River. Mangled and twisted, it was borne from the water for the first time in a hundred years; but through desire and brute strength, Stach willed it to take shape.

I met Mark in 2022 along the banks of the Rock River just below the Galena Avenue Bridge in Dixon. He had been casting a magnet from his kayak and dredging up the past. Mark was in search of pieces of Dixon’s 1873 bridge disaster.

The Truesdell Bridge collapsed on May 4, 1873, during a baptism ceremony led by the Rev J.H Pratt of the now First Baptist Church in Dixon. A large crowd of spectators, mostly women and children, took spots on the bridge for the best view. The overloaded span buckled, collapsed and sunk, taking with it 46 lives.

The history that Stach was fishing from the bottom of the river seemed plausible. He was pulling up large, heavy sections of rod. His plan was to craft these pieces into a memorial for the victims of what may still be the worst road bridge disaster in American history.

Turning to a local blacksmithing group, Stach went to work combining these pieces. And much like those pieces of metal, the tale takes its first turn. Markings showed it wasn’t likely from the bridge. “Yeah I was a disappointed,” Stach said “I wasn’t sure how to continue from there.” However the metal was old, in the time period anyway, and for many it still marked a sacred spot in that river.

As word of Mark’s project got around, another turn in the story came in the form of a phone call. A local farmer had a piece of latticework in a barn that legend says came from that bridge. Pictures from the bridge match the piece. “I thought about incorporating it into the memorial but decided to leave it as is,” he said. The railing is on display at the Loveland Museum in Dixon.

While hammering out the kinks and tacking the pieces together, Mark’s mind started to turned toward the Rev. Pratt. “He’s been on my mind a lot recently. He didn’t last long after the disaster.” Stach reached out to the First Baptist Church about accepting the memorial and they gladly accepted. Said Mark, “They already have a spot reserved for its display.”

As the project was mere days, or even hours, away from completion, I searched for some kind of pensiveness from the artist, wondering if he’ll miss the journey to this end.

“No, I’m ready for this to be complete.” We then talked about his next fishing expedition, and by his body language I feel like he’s really going to get deep in the reeds on this one. I hope he lets me sail along.

• Alex T. Paschal is a photographer with Shaw Media. Follow him @svmphotogs or email him at apaschal@shawmedia.com