The Silver Bridge Disaster / Silver Bridge Memorial

On December 15, 1967, about one mile downstream, the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River during five o'clock rush hour traffic, killing forty-six interstate travelers in a national tragedy. The 2,235 foot two-way vehicular bridge connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Kanauga, Ohio, by way of U.S. Route 35. Built in 1928 by the West Virginia Ohio River Bridge Company for $1.2 million, the structure was unique in its engineering conception, the first of its design in America and the second in the world. Instead of woven-wire cable, it was suspended on heat-treated eye-bar chains, and it was called the Silver Bridge because it was the first in the world to be painted with aluminum paint. In 1969, two years later, its replacement, the Silver Memorial Bridge, was dedicated. Those who lost their lives came from Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina.

Ohio · United States