Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
“The Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. The eastern end of the bridge is on Chouteau Island, while the western end is on the Missouri shoreline.”
Wikipedia article Chain of Rocks Bridge, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 40 National Register listings published here for Madison County · listed in 2006 · category: Structure.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
This property stands in Chouteau Township. Centennial History of Madison County, Illinois, and Its People, 1812 to 1912, published 1912 gives that township a chapter of its own.
The chapter covers natural features, early settlement, early land claims entered, pioneer hardships, pleasures and dangers, education and religion, first mill and store.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Chouteau Township - 26 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Chain of Rocks Bridge: 4 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prospect Hill Cement Plant | Stone, Crushed/Broken, Clay | Producer | ||
| Bemmey Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Emmerick Quarry | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown - Ls | Stone, Crushed/Broken | Past Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Madison, the town this property stands in, in 25 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 12 thunderstorm wind, 11 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | $10,000 | Thunderstorm winds blew a large tree down onto an unoccupied car in Granite City, causing major damage. |
| June 2008 | Flash Flood | Madison | $1,000 | Two to three inches of rain fell in a short amount of time over Madison county. Numerous secondary roads were flooded including some in the Granite City and Illinois Route 162 in Maryville. In Maryville, 3 people had to be rescued from a vehicle that had slid off the road and into a steep drainage ditch, which had overflowed and was flooding Illinois Route 162 in that location. None of the people from the car were injured. |
| May 2025 | Tornado (EF1) | Madison | - | After crossing from St. Louis City, the tornado weakened. It caused EF-1 structural and tree damage in Granite City and Pontoon Beach before dissipating near Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | Widespread wind damage across Madison County. Numerous trees, tree limbs and power lines were blown down. A couple of power poles were snapped off as well. In Madison, a small market sustained moderate roof damage. In Collinsville, the false roof of a building that covered up the A/C units was blown off and tossed onto Route 66 below. Also, a nearby Catholic school gymnasium sustained moderate roof damage. The tree damage was reported in Madison, Granite City, Roxana, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Maryville, Troy and Marine. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down numerous large tree limbs in Granite City and Collinsville. |
| June 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down a large tree in Granite City and numerous large tree limbs around Horseshoe Lake. |
| May 2017 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down several large tree limbs and power lines around town. |
| April 2014 | Hail | Madison | - | A large swath of hail fell across Madison County from Granite City to the Glen Carbon area. |
| April 2012 | Hail | Madison | - | There were numerous reports of large hail across Granite City. The largest hail stones were tennis ball size. |
| April 2011 | Hail | Madison | - | Numerous repprts of golfball sized hail were reported over Granite City. |
| May 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | Thunderstorm winds caused minor damage to a chimney. Also, part of the roof of a building was blown off near the intersection of 23rd Street and Washington Avenue. Several large trees were blown down around town. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | Thunderstorm winds blew down several large trees and many large tree limbs. |
| June 1997 | Hail | Madison | - | Skywarn spotters reported golfball size hail. |
| March 2024 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| July 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | no account filed |
| May 2018 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| October 2017 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| April 2011 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| May 2011 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Madison | - | no account filed |
| August 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | no account filed |
| September 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Madison | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Granite City YMCA | 4.2 miles | 2017 |
 | Emmert-Zippel House | 4.5 miles | 1996 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 06001091 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Madison County | All 40 listed properties in this county. |
Block