We are looking for a dozen schools to help us develop the Teachers Guide for the DVD Chicago Drawbridges to enhance its use in schools.  We are currently working with a Golden Apple Award winning 3rd Grade Teacher at a private Chicago school.  However, we need additional feedback and help toward using the DVD in the classroom.  The idea is to make this a robust tool for teachers.  We are working with 3rd Grade Teachers because of the Local History Cirruculium Requirement for 3rd Grade. 

However this documentary is a great springboard for simple tools and machines, math, physics, social science, and history so we welcome all teachers who are interested in getting involved and take advantage of this limited offer.

If you are a teacher and wish to review the documentary and the Teachers Guide please email us at [email protected] to receive the link and password to the on-line screener and can email you a copy of the teachers guide. 

We look forward to working with the schools toward inspiring kids and introducing them to Chicago's fantastic bridges and bridge history as a launching pad for additional exploration and learning.

"We knew we wanted to create a high-quality documentary and thanks to Stephen Hatch's great storytelling and our editor Matt Cozza it turned out even better than we could have hoped.  Viewers will not be disappointed and take away a greater understanding and excitement for bridges."
  -- Patrick McBriarty, narrator and co-producer

Super P-Force - "...takes viewers on a fascinating, artistic, and historical field trip of Chicago's drawbridges... This film is divided into segments, which makes it friendly for classroom use.  Classes across the curriculum, including art, history, mathematics, and science, can utilize this documentary in a variety of ways.
  -- Patricia Ann Owens, School Library Journal, June 2014, p. 59.

"Using a rich array of vintage drawings and photographs, crisp graphics, and computer-generated images the producers retrace the evolution of these bridges.  ...Offering the always welcome chapter selection option and several supplementary in-depth interviews, this affordable program will attract a variety of viewers."
  -- Dwain Thomas, Library Journal, June 15, 2014, p. 56.

Chicago Drawbridges is a documentary directed by Chicago filmmaker Stephen Hatch and narrated by Patrick McBriarty, author and bridge historian, chronicling the importance of the bridges in the making of the Windy City, from the very first wood footbridge, built by a tavern owner in 1832, to today’s iconic structures spanning the Chicago River. 

Informative and entertaining this 57-minute film tells the story of Chicago’s development through the bridges based on the recently released companion book Chicago River Bridges from the University of Illinois Press. Created and produced by Stephen Hatch and Patrick McBriarty the documentary interviews professor, geographer, and author David M. Solzman, PhD.; Brian Steele, Director of Communications for CDOT (2001-2011); map maker and historian Dennis McClendon of Chicago CartoGraphics; James S. Phillips, PE (ret.); Ozana Balan King, Museum Director of the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum; Grant Crowley owner of Crowley's Yacht Yard; Betsy Steinberg, Managing Director of the Illinois Film Office; CDOT Engineer Vasile M. Jurca, P.E.; and Professor Michael Latham of music and film studies. 

The companion book Chicago River Bridges by Patrick McBriarty is available from the University of Illinois Press and is in stock at:

• Chicago Architectural Foundation Shop
• The Chicago Art Museum Shop
• The McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum
• Aviation Universe in Bensenville, IL
• Barnes & Noble Stores
• Costco
• Independent Book Sellers in the Region

Signed copies of the book maybe ordered at Patrick's author website:

This website also shows Patrick's current work on a series of children's picture books involving bridges. It is a fantastic companion to the DVD and provide even greater detail, research, and information on Chicago's amazing bridges.  This work received the 2013 Henry N. Barkhausen Award for original research on Great Lakes Maritime History from the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History in September 2013.