The line reached Cedarburg by the end of 1870, and Hilbert Junction by the end of 1871. By the early parts of 1873, the line reached Green Bay and the Fox River ports.
When the line was first completed to Hilbert Junction, a branch was built to Menasha, although that would later be turned over to the Soo Line.
The railroad became incorporated into the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (Milwaukee Road) in 1893. The CM&StP became the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway in 1913, after a pacific expansion.
The railroad served as one of the multitude of rail lines connecting Milwaukee to Green Bay. This one, however bypassed the Fox Cities.
The Milwaukee Road used the line until 1985, when they were merged into the Soo Line. The Soo became the new operators of the line.
In 1987, Soo Line spun much of its Wisconsin trackage to the Wisconsin Central Ltd, who operated this line until 2001.
By 2001, the Canadian National had taken over the Wisconsin Central, and abandoned a portion from Hilbert to Green Bay.
In 2015, the portion from Saukville to Hilbert would be sold to the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad.
Today, Canadian National operates the line into Milwaukee to Saukville; Wisconsin & Southern operates from Saukville to Hilbert, while the line towards Green Bay from Hilbert is currently the Fox River Trail, ending where the Swing Bridge over the Fox River once stood.
06/26/21
This bridge was the Milwaukee Roads crossing of the Fox River in Green Bay.
Built in 1902, the bridge featured a single 205' long swing span, with riveted connections.
The bridge featured trestle approaches to either side. On the east side, the trestle approach was turned into a fishing pier.
While the east approach made for a good fishing pier, the rest of the bridge became doomed in 2008, when Green Bay voted to not operate it as a trail bridge.
In 2014, the coast guard forced Canadian National to begin demolition proceedings. By the end of 2014, the bridge was gone.
The author has ranked this bridge as being moderately significant due to the decreasing number of swing spans throughout the region. Unfortunately, losing this structure is another example of such loss.
The photo above is an overview, as demolition of the west approach began.
Fox River Railroad Bridges
| Upstream | Allouez Swing Bridge |
| Downstream | Phoebe Street Swing Bridge |