{"nrhp_refnum":"78001176","name":"Fountain Creek Bridge","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Off IL 156","address_restricted":false,"city":"Waterloo","county":"Monroe County","state":"IL","lat":38.32585671500004,"lon":-90.19587986899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A semi-circular limestone arch bridge over Fountain Creek near Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois, built in 1849 by stone mason Herman Garleb for the county.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the bridge has statewide significance as the second largest remaining stone arch bridge used in the nineteenth century solely for highway rather than railroad traffic. Of roughly 100 stone-arch highway bridges built in Monroe County, it is the largest. It also illustrates how ancient stone arch construction coexisted with metal truss and reinforced concrete bridges.","narrative":"Spanning Fountain Creek south of Illinois Highway 156 near Waterloo, this semi-circular arch bridge is built of coursed limestone. It has a 42-foot span, a 12-foot arch rise and a 46-foot parapet length, with a roadway and parapets together about 20 feet wide. Herman Garleb, a stone mason, built it for Monroe County in 1849 to carry the Dennis Hollow road, one of the county's major routes from the Mississippi River bottoms to the county seat at Waterloo. Traffic used it until the mid-1920s, when construction of state highway 156 moved the road about 100 yards west. It is now unused but remains unaltered and in good condition. It was listed because it is the second largest surviving stone arch bridge in Illinois that served only highway traffic in the nineteenth century. About 100 such bridges were built in Monroe County, most of them small, and this is the largest.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Herman Garleb","architectural_style":"Semi-circular arch bridge of coursed limestone","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as unused and unoccupied; in good condition, unaltered and on its original site. The road was relocated about 100 yards west in the mid-1920s.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.059044-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/8937/28893745/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/78001176.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001176/c548c000d1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001176/c548c000d1-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fountain_Creek_Bridge.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fountain_Creek_Bridge.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893745","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_Creek_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8565022"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/monroe-county/fountain-creek-bridge-78001176/"}