Riverside Bridge Closed to bicycles and walking traffic
Channel: Buddy Huggins
Date: 2015-07-21

Closed to bicycles and walking traffic,  Riverside Bridge.
http://buddyhuggins.blogspot.com/2015/07/riverdale-bridge-closed-christian.html
History of Riverside Bridge:

A wooden wagon covered bridge was built 1864-1865 in Ozark MO during the latter part of the Civil War. It was built next to the Ozark Water Mills and spanned the millpond over the Finley River. It was built by Wm. Easson and a Mr Putney.

On July 9th, 1909 the muddy waters of the Finley swept the wooden bridge off its piers and downstream where it slammed into the Chadwick Branch Line Railroad Bridge and was demolished. The flood has been known as the biggest flood of the Finley since settlers came to the area in the 1830s. Old timers called it "the big flood of ought nine".

In August 1909 the Christian County Court received bids for a new bridge to replace the old wagon bridge that would span Finley Creek at the Old Wagon Bridge site next to the Ozark Water Mills in Ozark MO. The court that month contracted with the Canton Bridge Company to fabricate and build the two span truss for $3648.00. Canton had poured the concrete piers and abutments by the end of September; by the end of the year the Ohio-based company had fabricated the trusses from steel rolled by Cambria and erected them on-site. The Canton Bridge Company was a prolific builder of metal bridges in the late 1800s and early 1900s. David Hammond, who created the Canton Bridge Company, was also the creator of the Wrought Iron Bridge Company, which was the largest pre-1900 builder of metal bridges in the United States.

In 1922 a new state highway was built so the bridge needed to be replaced with a new two-lane bridge so it was moved upstream a few miles to Biers ford, which is the current location that it is in today. We assume that since the bridge is pin-connected that they took it apart, moved it, and reassembled it at the new location. It later took on the name of Riverside Bridge because the Riverside Inn Restaurant was built next to it in 1923. The restaurant was demolished in 2010.

The Riverside Bridge reflects Canton's proclivity for pin-connected Pratt trusses. It typifies medium-scale truss design and detailing for its period of construction - and is one of thousands of Pratt through trusses built throughout the state in the early 20th century. Today there are not many of these bridges left due to being torn down and destroyed.

The portal builder's plate, that still remains on the bridge today, says: 1909/The Canton Bridge Co. Builders/Canton OH.

Riverside Bridge is the oldest remaining bridge in Christian County and it's one of the oldest bridges in the entire Springfield MO area.

Today the Riverside Bridge is 101 years old and still stands in the location it was moved to in 1922.

Credit for the history of the Riverside Bridge:
- MO Historic Bridge Inventory (Haer Inventory)
- Christian County Its First 100 Years
- Unto These Hills by Paul W Johns
- Christian County library microfilm research
- Christian County courthouse records research
- Nathan Holth - Historicbridges.org
- Kris Dyer - Director of Save the Riverside Bridge Initiative
Email
saveriversidebridge@gmail.com
Website
http://www.saveriversidebridge.com/


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