In 1816, the legislatures of Virginia and Ohio authorized the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company to connect Wheeling, Virginia, with Belmont County, Ohio, and although the National Road reached Wheeling in 1818, a bridge across the Ohio was not commissioned until 1847. In competition with John Roebling, the contract went to Charles Ellet, Jr., later a leading American builder of wire suspension bridges. The bridge's 1010-foot span, measured from the centers of its two supporting towers, was the longest clear-span bridge in the world at the time, and all of its materials, including the drawn iron wire for the cables, were produced locally. Its main cables rested on iron rollers atop the towers to relieve strain caused by temperature changes. In 1854, high winds set the deck structure oscillating and severely damaged the bridge, but under Ellet's supervision it was reconstructed and reopened in three months. In 1867, tracks were added for horse-drawn streetcars, and in 1872 Washington Roebling was commissioned to make upgrades that included diagonal cable stays. The bridge remained essentially unchanged until a new steel deck system was installed in 1956, and work completed in 1999 repaired the stiffening truss and wire rope stays, fully inspected and rewrapped the cables, and added new illumination. It is regarded as one of the finest examples of pre-Civil War engineering and as one of the world's most significant and historic bridges. Before the official opening on November 10, 1849, high water forced the steamboat Messenger to cut nearly 8 feet from its smokestacks to pass beneath the bridge, and the next day the Hibernia #2 also could not proceed normally. Using these incidents, Pennsylvania, on behalf of Pittsburgh, challenged the bridge in federal court as an obstruction to river traffic. In May 1852, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for Pennsylvania and ordered that the bridge be elevated or removed by February 1, 1853, but the Bridge Company then won congressional legislation declaring it a post and military road, thereby fixing its height and location. After another legal challenge, the Supreme Court in 1856 upheld that congressional action and ruled in favor of the bridge, by which time many steamboats used hinged stacks that could be lowered to pass under bridges.

Photo: Habs

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: Allen C. Browne

Photo: J. J. Prats

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: J. J. Prats

Photo: J. J. Prats

Photo: J. J. Prats

Photo: J. J. Prats

Wheeling, West Virginia · USA