Early History
The Shelby Street Bridge was originally known as the Sparkman Street Bridge and was built one block south of Broadway, connecting Sparkman Street and Shelby Avenue. The bridge was constructed at a cost of about $475,000. Another bridge called the Jefferson Street Bridge which was virtually identical to it was built at the same time. The Jefferson Street Bridge was opened a year after the Sparkman Street Bridge. The substructures of the bridges were light grey concrete, and the superstructures were made of steel that had been painted black.
The bridge was the first in North America to have concrete arched trusses.
The bridge was designed and construction was supervised by Howard M. Jones, the chief office engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway. The original architectural drawings as approved by Jones are archived at the Metro Transportation Offices.
Read more about this topic: Shelby Street Bridge
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)