The Old St. Charles Bridge once connected St. Louis County to the city of St. Charles.

History

Construction on the bridge began in August, 1902 with the sinking of the piers. Workers who worked inside the piers were called

sandhog Sandhog is the slang term given to urban miners and construction workers who work underground on a variety of excavation projects in New York City, and later other cities. Generally these projects involve tunneling, caisson excavation, road buil ...

s. They worked one hour at a time twice a day inside the piers. One worker died as a result of the bends. Progress on the bridge was slow for several reasons. Shipments of raw materials including lumber and steel were delayed. Inclement weather threatened work stoppages on several occasions. A dispute developed over the

right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

needed for construction that had to be settled in court. And finally, raw materials had to be stored on the St. Louis County side due to the lack of available space in St. Charles. This forced workers to ferry materials and supplies across the river when needed on the St. Charles side. Construction was completed in the spring of 1904 in time for the world's fair in St. Louis. The bridge was a combination highway and streetcar bridge. The streetcar station at the western terminus of the bridge still stands at 2nd and Adams in St. Charles. It was operated as toll by the St. Charles and St. Louis County Bridge Company until December 1931. At that time it was incorporated in the state highway system as part of

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

. In the late 1920s, the bridge was fitted with a pair of 34.5kV transmission lines when the Union Electric Co. (now part of Ameren) extended its system into the St. Charles area. The original insulators used on the river spans were a unique style developed by the Lapp Insulator Co. of LeRoy, NY (the prevailing wisdom being the need to compensate for the higher humidity in the area of the river; standard 'post' style insulators were later installed as replacements when the original insulators failed). Tolls and trolleys ceased crossing he bridge in January 1932. In June 1959, the bridge was redesignated as part of Route 115 after a new U.S. Route 40 bridge opened that would later become part of

Interstate 70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from Interstate 15, I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to Interstate 695 (Maryland), I-695 and Maryland Route 570 (MD 570) in Woodlawn, Baltimo ...

. The bridge remained part of SR-115 until it was replaced by the Discovery Bridge. It was documented for the

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...

in 1989. It was closed to traffic in 1992 and demolished in 1998.

References

External links

* {{Structures in Greater St. Louis Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Bridges in Greater St. Louis Bridges in St. Louis County, Missouri Bridges in St. Charles County, Missouri Bridges completed in 1904 Demolished bridges in the United States Buildings and structures demolished in 1998 Road bridges in Missouri U.S. Route 40 Former toll bridges in Missouri Historic American Engineering Record in Missouri Steel bridges in the United States

History

See also

References

External links