Milwaukee Northern Bridge (Ozaukee Interurban Trail)

This next stop will not be a building. But, it has had huge impacts here in Cedarburg as well as the rest of Ozaukee County. This trail is the bedrock of Cedarburg, mostly because of what the trail used to be. As the description will say, this trail was used differently than for its recreational use today.

What is now today is the Ozaukee Interurban Trail (Used today for walking, cycling, jogging, etc.). However, it was not always known as a trail for recreational use. Initially, this bridge was built in 1907 as a rail line transit that united transportation from Milwaukee to Sheboygan, Milwaukee being south of Cedarburg and Sheboygan just north of it. This rail line transit would service the town for forty-one years until it stopped operations in 1948 due to the end of World War II and the introduction of the interstate highway system, which wouldn't be built until the 1950s with I-43 going South and North from Sheboygan to Milwaukee and elsewhere. Finally, in 1998, the bridge was restored and became part of the Ozaukee Interurban Trail for recreational use; it helped complete the trail for its establishment in 2002 for Ozaukee County. When you walk on the bridge, you can see the beauty of Cedar Creek along with looking up-stream (North) to the Woolen Mill dam as well as down-stream to the Cedarburg Mill and bridge. This part of the trail offers beautiful views of Cedarburg and Ozaukee County that makes it a beautiful gem here in Wisconsin.

This was also due to products made in Cedarburg to be shipped to different communities because of the railroad. The rail also brought prosperity to different Cedarburg business's near the rail depot, and as a result, Cedarburg's population began to grow bigger and bigger. The rail transit, as a result of being established, also was built to accommodate a long-distance electric line there as well. New York engineers came to Cedarburg, as well as accountants and secretaries to oversee the project. But while they stayed in Cedarburg, they would also fall in love and even marry some of the Cedarburg girls that lived here! Once it was finished in 1907, the Milwaukee Northern Railway Co. served the community for over forty years. But this thriving railway would have decline in the 1920s due to the automobile and the creation of the assembly plants that created the Ford Model-T at a quicker pace, and Americans as well as Wisconsinites started to get on the automobile craze. But as explained before, this railway would eventually be converted for recreational use in the early 2000s. This trail, as well as the former railway, shows another unique history to Cedarburg and to Wisconsin as well.

Ozaukee County Interurban Trail. Accessed April 16th 2022. https://www.interurbantrail.com/history.

A Walk Through Yesterday: In Cedarburg Wisconsin. 2005.

Cedarburg History: Legend And Lore. Edition 1st. Cedarburg, Wisconsin. Library Of Congress, 1976.

Milwaukee Northern Interurban, Ozaukee County. Accessed April 16th 2022. https://www.co.ozaukee.wi.us/741/Milwaukee-Northern-Interurban.