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| Not numbered. | Mason County | Visited: September 2, 2019 | Plaque? YES! 🙂 |
| What is it? | A plaque marking the site of the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge! |
| What makes it historical? | THE PLAQUE SAYS: Constructed in 1928, connected Point Pleasant and Kanauga, OH. Name credited to aluminum colored paint used. First eye-bar suspension bridge of its type in US. Rush hour collapse on 15 December 1967, resulted in 31 vehicles falling into river, killing 46 and injuring 9. Failed eye-bar joint and weld identified as cause. Resulted in Congressional passage of national bridge inspection standards in 1968.
OTHER TIDBITS: The Silver Bridge collapse is an important illustration of how the use of structures changes over time! When it was built in 1928, only 685 cars crossed each day, weighing between 1,200 and 2,200 pounds! By 1967, those numbers had grown to 9,400 vehicles a day weighing between 2,500 and 3,000 pounds! While this was the nation’s first bridge build from heat-treated steel, the architects of the J.E. Greiner Company relied too much on the strength of that steel and didn’t install very many backup eyebars in case one failed. Sadly, that’s just what happened on the night of December 15th, 1967 as the bridge was packed with holiday shopping traffic! The corroded C13N joint snapped, and a chain reaction sent the bridge crumbling into the river! Point Pleasant locals would later go on to speculate about the curse of Chief Cornstalk and the influence of the Mothman, who appeared thirteen months prior, but these are ornaments to an already gripping tale! |
| How can I Help the Helpers? | HERE’S HOW:
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| How do I find it? | Listed Directions: Main Street, Point Pleasant Annotations: From Charleston: ~56mi (91km) — 1hrs |
| When should I go? | Whenever the mood strikes you! |
