A few years ago I wrote an article about the bridges across the Cumberland
at Nashville. You can find the article here -
Nashville Bridges
I hope to follow each bridge in depth from its conception to completion with
news articles and government records. I am going to begin here with the
first bridge.
The plan of the first bridge across the
Cumberland River was proposed by the citizens of Nashville in 1818. Erected
where the present Victory Memorial Bridge is located, at the northeast corner
of the Square across to Main Street, it opened in June of 1823. The covered
bridge had windows along the sides to provide light. When it was built water
craft was small and the structure was only 75 feet above the low water mark.
The bridge was demolished in 1851 because the larger steam boats of the
mid-century were unable to pass under....
Most of the following newspaper articles were found
in the papers of Samuel A. Weakley [TSLA AC# 1330-2] and in the collection of
Judge Litton Hickman [Metro Nashville Archives].
Nashville Whig, Saturday November 28, 1818
A meeting of the
citizens of Nashville will be held at Talbot's Hotel on Monday evening next in
order to take into consideration the propriety of a bridge across the
Cumberland River at this place. We hope
every citizen who has the welfare of the town at heart will attend in order to
give facility to an object of so much importance to the citizens of this place
and the country at large. We are happy
to see the public spirit manifested on this subject, for we have long wished to
see a bridge across the river here; as well for the convenience of the public
at large as for the improvement of Nashville, which has already become a place
of considerable commercial importance, and by the acquisition of a bridge many
facilities would be rendered which are now impossible.
Nashville Whig, Saturday July 3, 1819
The undersigned, having been appointed a committee
of the Board of Directors of the NASHVILLE BRIDGE COMPANY to correspond with
and receive proposals from any qualified workman who may be willing to
undertake and complete a bridge over the CUMBERLAND RIVER opposite
Nashville, this is, therefore, to give notice to all persons who may be willing
to engage in this undertaking that the sum of ONE HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND
DOLLARS is subscribed by the company for the above purpose. The River Cumberland is about six hundred
feet wide, having a rock bluff on the town side for an abutment, but the other
bank is sandy. The river is about from
eight to ten feet in low water, having a rock bottom for most part across, and
during the time of floods it rises sometimes as high as forty feet, which will
require the piers to be built at least fifty feet high. The country above Nashville will furnish the
best kind of timber for the woodwork and at the town site there is a great
quantity of stone well calculated for raising the piers.
Robert
Weakley
Andrew
Hynes
John
Shelby
May
20 1819 Commissioners
National Intelligencer,
Aurora, Richmond Enquirer, Boston Patriot and New York Columbian will publish
the above 3 months and forward their account to this office for payment.
Nashville Gazette, July 31, 1819
Nashville Bridge – An installment of $5.00 on each share of the Capital stock to the
Nashville Bridge Company is required to be paid into the hands of the Treasurer
on Tuesday the 31st August next.
By order of the Board.
JOHN
SHELBY, TREA’R
Nashville Whig, September 18, 1822
Distressing accident.—On
Monday last, while the hands were at work on the bridge over the Cumberland, a
part of the scaffolding gave way, and several of them fell into the river from
the height of sixty or seventy feet. A
man by the name of Kean was killed and five or six others wounded, some of them
dangerously.
Nashville Whig – Wednesday, June 11, 1823
Nashville Bridge-- The
bridge across the Cumberland river at this place is so far completed that
horses, carriages, ect. now pass over it.
Nashville Whig – Wednesday, July 21, 1823
Nashville Bridge-- Extract from the By-laws and
rules adopted by the Directors of the Nashville Bridge Company, Sec. 4 Be it resolved, that the following rules,
by-laws and regulations shall be observed by the gate-keeper and by all persons
in using, passing or being on said bridge to wit: It shall not be lawful for any person or
persons, having or driving any drove of horses, mules, cattle or hogs to drive
or pass on said bridge in one drove at the same time in more than the following
number to wit: Horses, mules or cattle,
not more than ten head; of hogs not more than twenty head; and it shall not be
lawful for any loaded wagon to pass on or cross said bridge within less than
one hundred yards of another loaded wagon; and that it shall not be lawful for any person
passing over said bridge on horseback or with a cart, wagon or carriage or with
a drove of horses, mules, cattle or hogs to make any delay on said bridge
except such as is unavoidable; and it shall not be lawful for any person riding
on horseback or driving any cart, wagon or carriage on said bridge or driving
any drove of horses, mules, cattle or hogs over same to ride or drive faster
than a walk.
It shall not be lawful for any foot passenger to
travel on the road allowed for horses and carriages at the time that there is
any horses or drove of horses, mules or cattle or any wagon, cart or carriage
passing thereon except it be such person as shall have the same in charge, nor
shall it be lawful for any foot
passenger to molest, disturb or frighten any horse or drove of horses, mules,
cattle or hogs, when passing on said bridge.
It shall not be lawful for any person to carry over
or have on said bridge any coal or chunk of fire, nor to smoke or carry with
him on said bridge any lighted segar or pipe; and if any person or persons
shall willfully commit a violation of any of the rules above described he, she
or they, so offending shall be subject to pay the sum of five dollars, or every
such offence, to be recovered before any tribunal having jurisdiction thereof
by a warrant in the name of the Nashville Bridge Co., for the use of the said
company.
It shall be the duty of all foot passengers to pass
the footway on the right hand as they are going; and it shall be the duty of
all passengers on horseback or driving any wagon, cart or other wheel carriage,
or driving any drove of horses, mules, cattle, sheep or hogs to pass over on
the right hand way.
It shall not be lawful for the gate-keeper to permit
any slave to pass said bridge at any time after nine o’clock at night and
before day light in the morning without a written pass from his or her master
or mistress expressing such permission.
Robert
Weakley,
President,
Nashville Bridge Co.
Nashville
Whig, January 26, 1824.
Nashville
Bridge – The undersigned who had the management of the Bridge for the last six
months, begs leave to inform the public that he has rented it for the term of
one year. He now tenders its use to the
public and proposes to let out to families or individuals for the above term, the
privilege of crossing on it, and pledges himself to do so if applied to, on the
most reasonable terms. Persons who
reside on the north side of the river are particularly invited to call on the
undersigned, as he believes they will find it very much to their advantage to enter
into the arrangement proposed. There
will be a keeper of the gate who will be ready at all times to attend to the
calls of those wishing to pass on urgent business, without regard to time.
The
undersigned will endeavor to do everything necessary on his part to afford satisfaction,
and hopes to merit a share of public patronage.
A note concerning
Greenwood Payne from Samuel A. Weakley papers – “The keeper of the bridge, from
its beginning until it was removed in 1851, was Greenwood Payne. He was evidently a methodical person, and
interested in the behavior of the river for he recorded the height of each of
the high waters during the life of the structure. Several years ago the writer [Samuel A.
Weakley] made and extensive search for the descendants of Greenwood Payne in an
effort to locate this valuable record, but it was without success. However several records of the high stages of
the river were printed in the Nashville papers from time to time….”
Nashville Whig, January 26, 1824
The Nashville Bridge. This
elegant piece of architecture, so useful to the public, and ornamental to our
town, has never yet been noticed in any manner adequate to its value and
importance. As a superstructure of elegance and durability, it is
conceived to be equal, perhaps superior to any of the kind in the United
States: This has been the observation of persons from a distance who have
seen most of the celebrated works of this kind. It is the workmanship of
Messrs. Samuel Stacker and Johnston of Pittsburgh….at the price of
$75,000. The bridge is 560 feet from end to end and, 40 feet in breadth
and 75 feet in height, from river to low water.
The superstructure consists of
three arches, each 187 feet long, butting against each other, resting in one
continued chord, supported by the abutments and piers. Versed sine, or
rise, from the chord to the apex, is 6 feet; the curve formed by this arch is
not, however, that of the segment of one great circle, but of segments of
circles of unequal radii, those of the largest radii being next to the
abutments, and the shortest at the vertex. The superstructure at the
abutments 28 feet wide, and at the apex of the centre arch 25 ½ feet.
This forms a catenarian arch on the outside of the bridge, and prevents lateral
motion. The ribs composing the arches are set in cast iron head blocks
and butt against each other with the exception of about a foot where wedges are
inserted; by spreading on these wedges the arches can be set up, and the floor
raised to any height required. (This is considered an improvement of the
first magnitude in the erection of wooden bridges.) The design and
principle on which this Bridge is built is the same as those of Shaffhausen and
Wittengen in Switzerland.
The ribs, ring posts, and string
pieces are connected and secured by ties, braces, and bars of iron in such a
manner as to form one connected and combined whole, equal in strength, perhaps,
to anything within the compass of human invention on a similar
scale. This Bridge consists of three abutments – one is founded on
solid rock with the intervention of 2 feet of gravel. It is about 70 feet
long, 20 thick, and 80 high, with rings extending into the bank 80 feet – it
batters on inch to the foot, on all outsides, together with several offsets,
which reduce it to 52 feet long and 24 thick where the superstructure
rests. It also overhangs on the inside to prevent the filling from
protruding out the side. The open space in this abutment required 3,000
yards of filling, which was done with lose rock and clay sufficient to
make it compact. The piers are 70 feet long, 24 wide and 80 high.
The sides and lower end batter one inch to the foot, upstream and forming a
right angle, fall back 1 ½ inches per foot. They are founded on a
platform of wood, 75 feet long, 27 wide and 7 deep. The wooden part of
the Bridge is handsomely executed with ornamental fronts at each end, the whole
covered in neatly and painted white. The pillars are composed of the
limestone rock common to the country, which is admirably adapted to the
erection of the best workmanship.
The Bridge belongs to a company of
stockholders, incorporated by act of assembly; and its affairs are entrusted to
the management of a Board of Directors, chosen annually. They have leased
it out for the present year to Mr. Andrew Morrison at $5,300 per annum, being
at the rate of 7% on the amount of cost, exclusive of repairs.
Memorandum of
materials: Cubic feet of
timber, 20,000
Wrought Iron, 21 tons
Cast Iron, 5 tons
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The
New York Times, November 21, 1851.
The
old bridge at Nashville, Tenn., which was erected about 26 years since, at a
cost of $100,000, tumbled down on the 12th, to the great joy of the people. It
had long been a serious obstruction to the river.
All material collected and transcribed by Debie Oeser Cox.
