The Falls View Bridges

Near the falls, the first international bridge was the Upper Suspension or New Suspension Bridge, which opened in 1869 with a 1,260-foot span, the longest suspension bridge yet built. It was widened in 1888 for two-way traffic, but a strong southwest gale destroyed it on January 9, 1889. It was quickly rebuilt and reopened on May 7, 1889. The push for an electric railway crossing the gorge near the falls then led to its replacement by a steel arch bridge, which opened the following year as the world’s longest single-span arch at 840 feet. Known as the Upper Steel Arch Bridge, International Railway Company Bridge, Falls View Bridge, and most popularly the Honeymoon Bridge, it stood until the winter of 1937-1938, when a massive ice bridge formed in the gorge from the falls to Lake Ontario. On January 27, the ice pushed the bridge off its abutments, and it crumpled onto the ice, where it remained until the ice bridge broke up in April. Most of the wreckage sank where it fell, though some drifted downriver on the ice before sinking. The present Rainbow Bridge opened on November 1, 1941, with abutments built about 28 feet higher than those of the Honeymoon Bridge to avoid ice-jam damage.

Niagara Falls, New York · United States