The Kinzua Viaduct, once the tallest and longest bridge of its time, embodied the spirit of the industrial revolution as cargo and sightseers crossed it for 120 years before an F1 tornado toppled it in 2003. Thomas L. Kane, president of a local coal and railroad company, sought a faster way to move natural resources to northern markets and envisioned spanning the steep and wide Kinzua Creek Valley. Octave Chanute calculated the forces needed to strengthen the viaduct against high winds and, as chief engineer for the Erie Railroad, designed it using Phoenix Columns, a lightweight, strong cast iron truss system, while Adolphus Bonzano, chief engineer for the Phoenix Bridge Company, designed the iron work and embraced the engineering challenges. Dubbed the "Eighth Wonder of the World," the viaduct became a popular tourist attraction for generations. Its original iron construction was completed in 1882 in 94 days, it was rebuilt in steel in 1900 to support more and heavier train traffic, train traffic stopped in 1959, the commonwealth bought the land in 1963 for a future state park, Kinzua Bridge State Park opened in 1970, the viaduct was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1982, excursion train traffic resumed in 1987, the structure was deemed unsafe and excursion train traffic stopped in 2002, it was closed to pedestrians in 2003 as stabilization work began and a tornado struck, the Skywalk was completed in 2011, and the Visitor Center and Park Office opened in 2016.