Bridge Out
August 26th, 2010 | 
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The historic Manchester Street bridge across the Baraboo river is getting a new deck. These days the old bridge only sees pedestrian and bike traffic so the closure is only a minor inconvenience. On the other hand, one look at the stack of old wood that we had been walking upon up to now may give you the chills. (see below)
Rotting wooden decking was covered by plywood.
The “Camel Back” style, Manchester Street bridge was built 1884 by Milwaukee Bridge & Iron Works. It originally located on Manchester street which is on the south-east side of Baraboo. At the time this was the location of the city’s water pumping station. Today the area is best known as the location of the new city dog park. When it was decided that the bridge was simply too old and too narrow to support auto traffic in 1987, it was moved to it’s current home at lower Ochsner Park. In 1988 the Manchester bridge was added to the national registry of historic places.
Historic post card shows original location of the Manchester Bridge. (middle-left)
According to the person I spoke with at the Baraboo Parks & Recreation Department there has been a slight delay in the repair work, but the bridge should be open again by mid-September.
Two sections being replaced on the bridge
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Thanks for sharing the information on this bridge, I had thought that it was always in the place it was in until I read this story. I remember in 2008 and the water rising from all the flooding we were getting , the water was no more than an inch or so from the bottom of the bridge and I thought for sure it would be washed away.
The area where the bridge was moved from is not as wet now days.
Your welcome. Yeah back in the day (I’m 45..) we used to be able to go fishing on the opposite side of the road. The area where the dog park is was marsh then. That whole section was filled in some years ago. It was really done poorly in IM0. The city might have done itself a favor had they left the small lake/pond there. It was pretty and a popular hang out before they filled it in.