A Chicago and Northwestern train crosses the Fox River just south of the Green Bay city limits, ca. 1915. In 1861 the Wisconsin legislature authorized the Chicago & Northwestern railroad to extend its line northward through Green Bay or Fort Howard. The railroad opted to build in Fort Howard due to the lower construction costs along the west bank of the river and because eighty acres in the former Fort Howard Military Reservation had been granted to the railroad by Congress for yards and railroad buildings. To accommodate travel on the east side of the Fox River, Chicago and Northwestern built this bridge south of the city limits.

Photo #26.1989.176.