What to See in Burlington - Top Sights and Attractions

Church in Burlington, Iowa. The German Methodist Episcopal Church, also known as St. Paul's German Methodist Episcopal Church, is a historic church building in Burlington, Iowa, United States. The German Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in Burlington in 1845. It was the second of eight German congregations established in the city of various denominations. The Reverend Sebastian Barth, the first pastor, initially held services in a small frame house, and then in the basement of another church. The first permanent home for the congregation was a small brick church that was built in 1848. This structure was built from 1868 to 1869. It is a Victorian Gothic structure with Romanesque elements. The stone for the exterior was quarried from the site where the church was built.

Services in English were added in 1905 and all the services were in English by 1916. When the German and American branches of the Methodist church were merged in 1925, St. Paul's congregation was disbanded, and its members were absorbed by other congregations in Burlington. There was a small group that reorganized the German Methodist Episcopal Church at St. Paul's in 1930, but by 1938 the building was sold to the Church of the Nazarene. They occupied it until 1968. The Art Guild of Burlington bought the building in 1973. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and as a contributing property in the Heritage Hill Historic District in 1982.^[3]

Park in Burlington, Iowa. Crapo Park is a city park with arboretum and botanical garden, alongside the Mississippi River at Parkway Drive, Burlington, Iowa. Those who are not familiar with the park often mispronounce it as "crap-oh" Park, with the correct pronunciation being Park.

It is reputed to be the site where the American flag was first raised on Iowa's soil, by Zebulon Pike in 1805.

The park includes an arboretum containing more than 200 varieties of trees and shrubs, as well as botanical gardens of annuals and perennials. As of 2003, the following park trees were on Iowa's statewide "Big Tree" list: Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica), black hickory (Carya glabra), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), and black walnut (Juglans nigra).^[5]

Bridge in Burlington, Iowa. The Cascade Bridge is a historic structure located in Burlington, Iowa, United States. In April 1896 the Burlington City Council approved a proposal to have city engineer S.D. Eaton advertise for plans and estimates for a bridge on Main Street that would span Cascade Ravine. The Cascade Lumber Company had petitioned for the bridge. The city contracted with the Cedar Rapids, Iowa firm of Boynton & Warriner to design the structure and the Milwaukee Bridge and Iron Works to erect the span. The city was responsible for building the concrete substructure. The bridge was completed in the fall of 1896, and is composed of four spans. The span length is 160 feet, and its total length is 464 feet. The span is a Baltimore deck truss bridge with Pratt deck trusses at both ends. The structure is supported by stone and concrete abutments with concrete pedestals and a single concrete-filled steel cylinder pier. Over the years the original deck has been replaced, and concrete has been applied to the stone abutments. Otherwise the structure has been unaltered. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 2008 and as of 2020 has not reopened. The bridge remains closed to pedestrian and bike traffic.^[6]

Vertical-lift bridge in the United States of America. The Burlington Bridge is a vertical-lift railroad bridge across the Mississippi River between Burlington, Iowa, and Gulfport, Illinois, United States. It is currently owned by BNSF Railway and carries two tracks which are part of BNSF's Chicago–Denver main line.

The current bridge is the third that has existed at the same location. The first, a single-track swing bridge constructed in iron—the first all-metal structure to cross the Mississippi—opened in 1868, in the federal reconstruction phase post the American Civil War. Built as part of the network of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CBQ)—commonly known as the Burlington Route—it formed an important part of the federal railroad route between Chicago and Denver. Due to increasing traffic levels, in 1893 the CBQ reconstructed the bridge as a double-track, and it was further strengthened in the 1930s to allow for heavier freight cars. The CBQ later became part of Burlington Northern Railroad in 1970, and later BNSF. Amtrak's California Zephyr crosses this bridge.

On May 1, 2008, five fully loaded barges broke loose during a period of high water. One struck the bridge and became lodged under it. The bridge was closed until midday on May 2, when one track was opened after it was deemed safe. The barge was removed during the afternoon of May 3 and the other track was reopened that evening bringing the bridge back to full use to carry the dozens of trains that cross it daily. In the same year, the United States Coast Guard declared the bridge a danger to navigable traffic. This meant both that the bridge had to be replaced, and that funding for such could be eligible for federal funds.

Following the passing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and a successful application for federal funding supported by the Coast Guard, the BNSF Railway began work to replace the bridge in late 2009. The project was split into two phases, with the lift span being built first by Ames Construction, of Burnsville, Minnesota, and the approach trusses built by the Walsh Construction Company of Chicago, Illinois. The lift span was complete and operational by February 2011, while the remainder of the bridge was not officially dedicated until October 2012.^[8]