The First Hannibal Bridge was the first permanent rail crossing of the Missouri River and helped establish Kansas City, Missouri as a major city and rail center. The increased train traffic resulting from its construction also contributed to the building of Union Depot, the predecessor to the Kansas City

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. Construction started in 1867, shortly after the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Construction on the bridge was completed in 1869. The completion of the bridge came after a short battle between Leavenworth, Kansas, and the town of Kansas City for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad bridge. After construction was completed, the population of Kansas City began to grow. The bridge was designed by

Octave Chanute Octave Chanute (February 18, 1832 – November 23, 1910) was a French-American civil engineer and aviation pioneer. He provided many budding enthusiasts, including the Wright brothers, with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying ...

, who also designed the

Kansas City Stockyards The Kansas City Stockyards in the West Bottoms west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri flourished from 1871 until closing in 1991. Jay B. Dillingham was the President of the stockyards from 1948 to its closing in 1991. History The stockyards ...

and was later a pioneer in

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

. It was a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

which could open in under two minutes, and it had an arched

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

design. The bridge cost $1 million to build. The bridge was built for the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad by the Keystone Bridge Company. Although the railroad became part of the BNSF Railway, the name "Hannibal" has stuck. In 1886, the bridge was severely damaged by a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

which collapsed a middle span. It was reconstructed and its truss structure was altered from an arch design to a traditional truss design. It was later replaced by the

Second Hannibal Bridge The Second Hannibal Bridge is a rail bridge over the Missouri River in Kansas City, Missouri, connecting Jackson County, Missouri, with Clay County, Missouri. Opened in 1917, the bridge replaced the original Hannibal Bridge which crossed the ...

upstream on the northern bank, but at the same location on the southern bank where it enters into the gooseneck cut into the bluff.

References

Bridges in Kansas City, Missouri Demolished bridges in the United States Bridges completed in 1869 Octave Chanute Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Buildings and structures in Clay County, Missouri Railroad bridges in Missouri Former railway bridges in the United States 1869 establishments in Missouri {{Missouri-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References