ST. LOUIS — The Fourth of July is not only America’s Birthday. It’s also the day the Eads Bridge officially opened 150 years ago.
It was the most prominent landmark of St. Louis before the Gateway Arch came along more than 90 years later.
It was built by James Buchanan Eads, an engineer and community advocate, and completed on July 4, 1874.
Missouri Historical Society Public Historian Amanda Clark said the stories behind the bridge are some of the best parts.
"He had a local circus operator lend him an elephant, and they walked across the bridge because the thought was an elephant wouldn't walk on something that was unstable," Clark said.
It's the oldest bridge still standing on the Mississippi River and it was the world's first steel truss bridge.
"So there was no large cranes like we have today, there was some steam power, but because of the cantilever method, he could not afford the weight on the tips of the cantilever, so he figured out how to really design it and build the bridge with hand winches," Purdue University Professor of Civil Engineering Paul Giroux said.
Architectural, engineering feats in Gateway Arch National Park Museum
St. Louis has so many architectural and engineering firsts in addition to the Eads Bridge, all detailed in the Gateway Arch National Park Museum.
"Starting with the old courthouse, which is part of Gateway Arch National Park, the dome on there was the first of its kind being made of wrought iron. William Rumbold got a patent on that. Then we have the Eads Bridge that James B. Eads did and got lots of patents for the techniques that he used. And then we have the Arch but before that the Wainwright building, which we also talked about in our exhibits. That was based off of some of Eads work himself in the use of steel," Gateway Arch National Park Program Manager for Museum Services and Interpretation Pam Sanfilippo said.
There's even a new artifact on loan to the museum.
"This is a specimen from the lower court of the East Bridge. This is an 18-inch tubular. And in the 1970s, there was a collision on the bridge, which damaged one of the members of the bridge," Giroux said.
The stories that made the Eads Bridge
While the Eads Bridge is and amazing landmark and engineering feat, it is so much more than that to our city, the Bi-state and the region as a whole.
"The river was a boundary," Clark said. "The river was a barrier, and it symbolizes breaking through that barrier, it symbolizes getting through that east-west. It symbolizes politics and money being pushed aside over what was good for progress; it can symbolize lots of things when it connects to St. Louis history that we can use going forward. When the bridge opened on July 4, 1874, Eads said, 'This will stand as long as it is useful.' And I love that because it is still very useful. It's going to stand for a long time, but useful kind of means different things over time."
Giroux said in his presentations on the bridge, he tries to bring the story of the builder to life.
"Eads was a really remarkable self-taught engineer," Giroux said. "He grew up in Indiana and moved to St. Louis as a teenager. By the time he's 24, he's a self-made man, who had made his fortune really by salvaging sunken river cargo in the Mississippi River. And he did that because he was an innovator of specialized equipment and tools, he figured out how to get down into the deep waters of the Mississippi, salvage this cargo. He's one of the wealthiest men in St. Louis. He felt like he could probably leverage his industriousness, his ingenuity and his leadership, along with his financial resources and bring the citizens of St. Louis this much-needed bridge."
Clark said what happened after the bridge played an important role in the lives of St. Louisans.
"It's really played an important role in the history of St. Louis, both as a backdrop, as a way to get from one side to the other on a simple level, but also these bigger moments. There was a tornado that hit the bridge that hit St. Louis, it's incredibly dangerous and hits the bridge in 1917. There's the East St. Louis Race Massacre that happens and people have to escape East St. Louis to get to safety in St. Louis, and they use the Eads bridge to cross back over," Clark said.
She said it was also part of the inspiration for the blues music in St. Louis.
"A lot of people don't know that one of the most famous songs of all time, 'The St. Louis Blues,' written by W.C. Handy, was actually based off of sounds and music that he heard while sleeping underneath the Eads Bridge in the 1890s," Clark said.
And a more recent story, one of the toll booth operators on the bridge became a local celebrity, loved by all.
"He was known as 'Charlie on the bridge,' and was a tollbooth operator from the 1950s to 1989. So an incredibly long time, everyone that crossed the bridge every day would have seen him. He kept incredible notebooks, whatever their names were, what they liked, what they wore, what they look like, so he could remember their names. And then he had jokes of the day. And this became a thing and he became known for his jokes of the day. And the radio stations would call him, the local news stations would call him when they needed a human interest story. It just made the city a better place," Clark said.
There is an entire Eads Bridge exhibit on display at the Missouri History Museum until spring 2025, and there will be a special event during Celebrate St. Louis on July 4 at 1:35 p.m., along with other events listed below.
Building the Bridge, a 150th Anniversary Tribute
- Giroux is speaking at the Gateway Arch National Park Museum at 1 p.m. on July 4 and 6 in the Tucker Theater.
Eads Bridge Ranger Talk
Visitors can meet at the entrance to the Museum in the Gateway Arch Visitor Center for a ranger-led talk or tour of the Eads Bridge.
- When: Daily at 2:15 p.m.
- Where: Museum in the Gateway Arch Visitor Center
Ranger Arts Program
You can help create a special piece of art with Ranger Tony Gilpin. He will sketch the Eads Bridge on a canvas. Throughout the week, visitors can participate in painting.
- When: 3-5 p.m. on July 2-5.
- Where: Gateway Arch National Park.
Cobblestones & Courage
Visitors can learn more about James Eads in a virtual reality experience. There is a fee for the experience.
Click here to learn more about the anniversary and events.