Lathrop Avenue Viaduct (Racine, Wisconsin)

The Lathrop Avenue Viaduct was a railroad viaduct carrying the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad over Lathrop Avenue in Racine, Wisconsin. Constructed in 1932, it was abandoned along with the rest of the line in 1982 and demolished in 1998 to make way for part of the Racine–Sturtevant Trail.

History
As early as 1858, a railway had been constructed proceeding in an almost perfectly straight line from Racine Junction, on the south side of Racine, to Burlington 27 mi west at the opposite end of the county. At this time, what would become Lathrop Avenue was an unpaved farm road, which was laid out and given its name around 1908. Shortly before the construction of a viaduct at the Lathrop Avenue crossing was proposed, on June 3, 1931, the Racine Journal Times reported that "three Negroes" had been arrested at the crossing on charges of vagrancy after several boxcars caught fire there.

In September 1931, the city of Racine and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad began jointly seeking contractors to excavate Lathrop Avenue at the site and construct a viaduct for the railroad to pass overhead. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission gave the railroad a deadline of December 31, 1931 for the completion of the $68,000 viaduct, which was later extended to April 30, 1932. By early April, the excavation was complete and a "dangerously narrow" temporary wooden viaduct had been completed, but the railroad requested another deadline extension from the commission to build the permanent viaduct. The deadline was moved to July 1, but by early June the railroad was seeking another extension, leading to protests from residents of Lathrop Avenue, who called on the city council to fight any further extension. A week before the July 1 deadline, the construction was expected to overrun, but be completed as quickly as possible.

After the construction of the viaduct, Lathrop Avenue remained unpaved. During heavy rainstorms, several feet of water gathered in the street, requiring local residents to clear off the water to prevent accidents. In 1934, the area's alderman, Leroy Olson, called for federal funding to pave the street under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). The segment of road was paved in 1935 with funding from both FERA and its replacement, the Works Progress Administration.

On January 24, 1938, record rainfall in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois led to significant flooding throughout the region. Lathrop Avenue underneath the viaduct was flooded with water more than four feet deep. The driver of an automobile which drove into the water was believed to have drowned, but it was found that he had safely escaped from the car.