
The
Bridges of Nashville
Research by the Nashville
Civic Design Center
The
Nashville Bridge (1823-1851)
The first bridge
that connected the west and east sides of The Cumberland River was
completed in 1823. It extended from the
northeast corner
of the Public Square to Main Street across the river (the site of
the present Victory Memorial Bridge).
The contract to design
the bridge was signed by Thomas Talbot, first president of the Nashville
Bridge
Company, and by Joseph Johnson, engineer-architect
of Philadelphia, in June 1819. The contract deals with all financial,
constructional etc. details of the new bridge.
The bridge was removed
in 1851 after it became a hindrance to the traffic of steamboats
along the Cumberland River. Its function was
taken over
by the Suspension Bridge.
The Suspension
Bridge (1853-1886)
The Suspension Bridge
that made the necessary connection between Nashville and Edgefield
(now East
Nashville) was built in 1853.
It extended from
the southeast corner of the Square to Bridge Avenue, thence
to Woodland Street (now the site of the Woodland Street Bridge).
Adolphus
Heiman, a successful engineer-architect of Nashville, was commissioned
to design it. He supervised the building of
the towers
and anchors for
the cables and the supports for the deck. M.D. Field was
contracted to do the wire work. Heiman became dissatisfied with the
work
Field was
doing and resigned from the project.
In the spring of
1862, as the Union Army approached, General Albert Sidney Johnston,
commander
of the Confederate forces
in the West,
ordered the
wires of the bridge cut and allowed the bridge to fall
in the river.
After the war, the
Suspension Bridge was restored. Col. Albert Fink, a prominent bridge
engineer, was employed
as the consulting
engineer.
Major W.F. Foster, City-Engineer, designed and supervised
the work.
The bridge was replaced
by the Woodland Street Bridge in 1886.
The
Railroad Bridge (1859-present)
The Railroad Bridge
was opened for traffic in 1859. It was built for the joint use of
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the Edgefield
and Kentucky Railroad. It was constructed under the charter of
the latter road and under the direction of Adna Anderson, the chief
engineer
for the line. W.F. Foster was assigned as engineer in charge of
constructing the bridge. He supervised every detail of construction
until the
masonry was ready to receive the superstructure. Maxwell, Saulpell
and Company
were the contractors for the substructure. Gray-Whitton Company
were the contractors for the superstructure.
The retreating Confederate army in 1862 set the bridge afire at
the same time they cut the suspension bridge, but only the superstructures
was
damaged and the U.S. Corps of Engineers had it in service in a few
months.
The bridge remains
in use up to the present day.
The Woodland
Street Bridge (1886-superstructure 1965; substructure present)
The
Woodland Street Bridge replaced the old Suspension Bridge that
had become unsafe and unsuited for higher amounts of traffic.
It was completed
on April 10, 1886.
Major W.F. Foster
made the soundings, surveys and estimated the cost of a new bridge.
The City Engineer prepared
the plans
and
specifications
for the bridge masonry. Flemings (Louisville, Kentucky) and
Hollins (Indianapolis, Indiana) were contracted to build
the bridge.
The superstructure was
built by The Louisville Bridge and Iron Company, under direction
of J. A. Johnston, one of the best engineers in the profession.
The
bridge was removed in 1965 to make room for one designed to care
for the increasing traffic and high speeds of today.
The masonry
in the two abutments of the old bridge was in such good
condition that they
were used for the abutments of the new bridge.
The Shelby
Street Bridge (1909-present)
The Shelby Street
Bridge, formerly Sparkman Street Bridge, was built one block south
of Broadway at
Sparkman Street.
It was
built simultaneously
with the Jefferson Street Bridge, which was almost
its perfect twin. The bridge was opened on the 5th of July
1909. The
Jefferson Street
Bridge was opened a year later. In contemporary postcards
the two bridges appear
as impressive structures, the substructure a light
grey or white concrete, the superstructure elegant arches
of black
steel. Wilbur
Creighton Jr.,
who as a small child attended the ceremonial celebration
of the Shelby Street Bridge, independently described
the bridges
the
same way.
Howard M. Jones,
The Chief Office Engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis
Railway, was employed
to
design and supervise the
structure.
The substructure
and concrete approaches were built by the Foster and Creighton Company
(the concrete
approaches of
the Jefferson
Street Bridge
were built by J. D. Foy of Dothan, Alabama). The
structural steel of the two bridges was erected
by the same company,
in co-operation
with
the American Bridge Company. The Gould Contracting
Company
of Louisville was sold a third of the contract
to get the use of
their experienced
organization in the erection of steel bridges.
The original architectural drawings of both these bridges,
as approved
by Howard M. Jones
and executed in between 1907 and 1909, are preserved
in the Metro Transportation
Offices.
The Sparkman Street
Bridge performed its function for about 25 years, when time and the
weather showed
that
there was
something wrong with
the concrete. Between 1927 and 1930 the weathered
surfaces of
the bridge were chipped off and replaced by “gunite” under
the direction of Eugene Freeland, a Nashville
engineer. However, the weathering continued,
and the bridge had to be repaired a second time,
in the early 60’s
by the Standard Engineering Company of Albany,
New York. They subcontracted the repairs to the
steel to the Nashville Bridge Company. This second
period of repairs also included the Jefferson
Bridge.
The Shelby Street
Bridge was admitted on the National Register of Historic Places in
1998.
Main reason
for this is the
rare truss design
that was
used on this bridge.
Lately, the bridge has become unable to answer
the present day traffic needs. At present it
is in the
process of
being changed
into a pedestrian
bridge.
The Jefferson
Street Bridge (1910-1990)
See description of
the Shelby Street Bridge.
In 1989, the Jefferson Street Bridge was included
in a state-wide survey of metal truss bridges
to determine
which
were potentially
eligible for
the National Register. Because the bridge
is an exact copy of the Shelby Street Bridge,
which was
in better
condition,
the
Jefferson
Street Bridge
was not eligible and subsequently demolished
in 1990. It was replaced by the new Jefferson
Street
Bridge.
The Victory
Memorial Bridge (1955-present)
The Victory Memorial
Bridge was built as a memorial to the sons and daughters
of Tennessee who died
in World
War II.
The bridge
extends
from the northeast
corner of the Public Square to Third
and Main
Streets in East Nashville, the site
of the first bridge
to span the
Cumberland
in 1823.
The work on the bridge
was divided into three parts, river piers, substructures,
and superstructures.
The C. F. Rule
Construction Company was awarded
the contract to build the two river
piers.
A contract for the
east approach was awarded to the Marion Construction
Company, owned
by Malcom
Poteet.
They also
constructed the concrete
abutment east of First Avenue,
built the retaining wall and fill at the
east end,
the concrete base and handrails,
and
surfaced over the fill.
The Nashville
Bridge Company was awarded the work on the superstructure
of the
bridge. General
Manager
L.
C. Anderson
took the project
to a successful completion.
The work on the bridge was supervised
by Roy Higgs, the Resident Engineer.
Sources
Bibliography
Creighton
W. B., The Building of Nashville, Nashville TN
1969, 69-99.
Moore G., Tale of
Two Bridges, Nashville TN 2001.
Tennessee Department
of Highways and Public
Works,
Standard
Specifications for
Road and Bridge Construction,
Nashville
TN, 1927, 399-400.
Archival
materials
Agreement to build
a bridge over the
Cumberland River,
contract
with Mr.
Joseph Johnston,
1819.
Broadway Bridge
thrown open to public travel,
The Tennessean,
July 6, 1909.
National
Register of Historic Places,
Inventory-Nomination
form, Shelby
Street Bridge,
1998.
Original
architectural drawings of
the Shelby
and Jefferson
Street Bridges
by
engineer
Howard M.
Jones (1908)
and
drawings
of necessary
repairs
to both bridges
by Freeland,
Roberts
and Co. engineers
(1923).
Various
pictures of the different
bridges
collected
at the
Tennessee State Library
and Archives,
TheMain
Library,
The
Metropolitan
Archives
in Green
Hills
and the
Metropolitan
Historical
Commission.
Reports
Slater
M.,
Architectural Assessment
for
the project
to
replace
the
Jefferson Street
Bridge.
Prepared
for
the Tennessee
department
of
transportation,
March
1989.
Metropolitan
Government
of
Nashville
and
Davidson
County,
Department
of
Public
Works,
Shelby
Avenue
Pedestrian
Bridge
Rehabilitation
Proposed
Plan
Discussion.
Prepared
for
the
State
Historic
Preservation
Office
and
Tennessee
Department
of
Transportation
Environmental
Planning
Office,
January
1998.
Lichtenstein,
The Shelby
Street Bridge
Nashville, TN,
Report of
engineering investigation/rehabilitation
study for
conversion to
a pedestrian
bridge. Prepared
for Metropolitan
Development and
Housing Agency & Hellmuth,
Obata
and
Kassabaum,
Inc.,
1997.
|