Rainbow Bridge
(August 2005)
Information from Pantagraph article written in 1993 and information
obtained from the McLean County Highway Department.
Rainbow Bridge near Lexington has carried a lot of history across its wooden planks including horses, Model-T Fords and probably a prize bull or two.
Rainbow Bridge
Built in 1868 and closed to traffic in September 1989, the bridge about three miles southeast of Lexington, is a reminder of days gone by. Its planks have long since rotted and fallen into the Mackinaw River. Its steel trusses are rusted.
Rainbow Bridge February 21, 1998
Other than youngsters who occasionally throw rocks in its direction and party near it in warm weather, the bridge is stark and lonely.
Jack Mitchell, McLean County highway department superintendent, envisioned a different scene. In 1993 Mitchell saw a refurbished bridge with new plans and some 700 feet of new road leading to it near County Road 2200 North and County Road 2650 East. On the north side of the bridge, which would be opened to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, would be a picnic area. On the south side, a canoe launch. Estimated cost was to be $85,000, from federal enhancement funds to finance 80 percent and private funding would make up the difference. Greg Koos of the McLean County Historical Society, praised Mitchell’s plans, saying the bridge, the oldest in McLean County, "is a handsome thing, it really is."
The Rainbow Bridge is also a major industrial artifact, Koos said, adding that the Civil War accelerated technology making the bridge possible. Technology aside, the bridge was expected to be the savior of Pleasant Hill back in 1868, which was battling Lexington for superiority. However, the Chicago and Alton Railroad, which ran through Lexington, gave Lexington the edge.
Though it couldn’t top the railroad, the bridge has significance beyond McLean County, said Jerry Jacobson, historic resources coordinator with the Illinois Department of Transportation. Jacobson said the bridge is the oldest known bridge of its type in the state. "It’s part of our engineering history. Bridges help unify the countryside." he said. They also helped get those prize bulls from one side of the river to the other.
The refurbishing never came to pass, but the frame work still stands to our knowledge.
In 1992 the Rainbow Bridge was listed on the Illinois Historic structures list which makes it eligible for inclusion to the National Historical Register.