Old Railroad Bridge

Authorized by the Alabama legislature in 1832, the Florence Bridge Company built this bridge across the Tennessee River, and it opened in 1840 as a toll bridge. After storms damaged it twice, the Memphis and Charleston Railroad reopened it in 1858 as a double-decked bridge with additional piers supporting a large wooden superstructure, trains using the upper deck, and the lower deck serving as a toll bridge. In April 1862, the Confederate army burned the bridge. Later in the Civil War, its piers aided ferry crossing and anchored a pontoon bridge built by Gen. John B. Hood's Confederate Army of Tennessee in November 1864. After the war, both decks were rebuilt and returned to service in 1870. In 1892, an engine and five cars crashed through both decks into the river, and the superstructure was replaced with steel spans that remain visible. A turn span crossed the navigation channel until 1962, when a lift span was installed and used until 1992. Trains used the upper deck until 1988, and streetcars also used it from 1904 to 1933, while the lower deck served as a toll bridge until O'Neal Bridge opened in 1939. In 1993, the Norfolk-Southern Railroad Company donated the bridge to the Old Railroad Bridge company, and the 1560-foot-long lower deck was restored as a walking trail. With its original piers still part of the present structure, it is the oldest river bridge in Alabama.

Alabama · United States