| Historic Bridge Is Demolished
By David Publisher
thetimesrecord.net
It stood for over a hundred years, but it took only a few minutes to knock it down.
An iron truss bridge that spanned Spring Creek between the Hardman's and Save-A-Lot stores was demolished Tuesday afternoon as several bystanders watched.
"It's a piece of our history that's gone forever now," Tom Hardman, one of those watching the demolition, said. "But it was a true safety hazard and had to be removed."
The bridge had been closed to vehicles since 1969, a state Division of Highways spokesman said. It continued to serve pedestrians until last month when it was barricaded after some of the trusses began to buckle.
Constructed in 1897, the bridge was an important link on what was known as the Ravenswood, Spencer and Glenville (or Gilmer, Ripley and Ohio) Turnpike established when the area was part of Virginia. West Virginia bought the turnpikes from Virginia after the Civil War.
In June of 1897 the Roane County Court awarded a $4,227 contract to build the bridge to the Pittsburgh Bridge Company.
It was a Pennsylvania company that tore it down Tuesday. Brayman Construction Corp. of Saxonburg, Pa. was the low bidder on the job at $51,998, according to the DOH.
A large backhoe with shears working from the Main Street side knocked the bridge down shortly after 1 p.m. A smaller piece of equipment held the bridge in place on the opposite side to prevent any flying debris.
Crews worked the rest of the afternoon removing pieces of the bridge. The project was expected to by finished by the end of the week.
But the memories of the old structure will live on much longer. Several watching the demolition took photographs.
"You think of all the people and all the commerce that crossed that bridge," Hardman said. "That was the way in and out of Spencer."
Hardman said the local livestock market used to be on one end of the bridge, where storage units are located behind Save-A-Lot.
Additional pens that held cattle to be shipped out on the railroad were located on the other side of the bridge, where the Hardman's store now stands.
According to another bystander, a senior citizen once told him a young girl walking on the bridge in the 1930s had been struck by a vehicle and killed.
DOH officials said the bridge was a unique design known as a Pennsylvania truss or through-truss bridge.
The State Historical Office determined in 1999 the bridge had historical significance. It was seen as a contributing resource for a section of downtown Spencer that could be included on the National Register, but no application was ever filed.
It was known locally for years as the Calhoun Bridge because it served traffic on the main route between Spencer and Arnoldsburg before what is now known as the Col. Ruby Bradley Bridge was built in 1932.
thetimesrecord.net
| 
