page_title: Eugene Field Park
section_title: Light tower and footbridges
hierarchical_section_title: Eugene Field Park / Architecture / Light tower and footbridges
caption_attribution_description: English: The Carmen Avenue Connector, a 2003 pedestrian bridge over the North Branch of the Chicago River in Eugene Field Park, Chicago.
context_page_description: Eugene Field Park is a public park located along the North Branch of the Chicago River in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. The park was platted, designed and constructed between 1923 and 1930, with the Clarence Hatzfeld-designed field house completed in 1930 under the auspices of the Albany Park District. The Chicago Park District was consolidated in 1934 and took over Eugene Field Park. The park has seen numerous changes and improvements over the years. Eugene Field park has tennis courts, athletic fields, a playground, two bridges and 60 foot tall light tower. Together, the park, and its historic features were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
context_section_description: Eugene Field Park features a 60-foot flood light tower. The light tower was installed in 1937 by the Chicago Park District to provide lighting to recreation facilities northwest of the field house and south of the river. The tower is still in use. Until the 1980s there was a flag pole and World War I memorial in the park to the west of the flood light tower. After it fell into disrepair the park district demolished the memorial.
  There are two bridges within park boundaries. A footbridge over the Chicago River was designed by Hatzfeld in 1927 and opened in 1928. The original footbridge featured an arched wooden deck with metal support beams. Its original X-shaped rails were constructed from rough hewn lumber and at both the north and south ends of the bridge were covered shelters. When the Chicago Park District significantly rebuilt and altered the bridge in 1942, they kept the shelters intact. It is not known when the shelters were removed from the site. The park district undertook extensive reconstruction of the bridge again in 1995. While the original steel structure was maintained, the deck was replaced with asphalt and the railing replaced with chain link fencing.
  The park's second bridge was constructed by the Chicago Park District in 2003. The historic hedge-lined double-oval pathway in the eastern part of the park was removed to make way for the new bridge. The new bridge, known as the Carmen Avenue Connector, joined a bicycle trail system that linked open spaces along the Chicago River, including River and Kiwanis Park east of Eugene Field and Gompers Park to the west. The Carmen Avenue Connector was, in part, funded through a grant from the State of Illinois. Issued in 1997 by then Governor Jim Edgar, the grant included $180,000 for the construction of the bridge as part of the Grand Illinois Trail.
caption: The 2003 Carmen Avenue Connector pedestrian bridge.
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