Kudos to Frank Six for ordering an Inspection of the Wayne Six (Newell) Bridge in light of the additional weight on the bridge caused by the deluge of traffic. As inconvenient as it might have been, you can never be too careful. It was today (Dec. 15) in 1967 when 46 people plunged to their death in the collapse of the Silver Spring Bridge which connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Galliopolis, Ohio. I was a 19-year-old mother with a five-month old Doug, when I heard the news on a little gray radio I had in the kitchen that only got AM. It was the busiest part of the Christmas shopping season and the bridge was packed with shoppers and workers getting off work. Witnesses reported seeing Christmas packages floating down the river as cars plunged into the icy river.
According to reports of the time, the Silver Bridge was built in 1928.. It was an eight bar chain suspension bridge, and the failure of a single eye bar triggered by a flawed 0.1 inch whip led to a fracture. Onlookers said the bridge shook to the left and to the right,,,,and then no more , It just collapsed.
The Chester Bridge was built by the Penn Bridge Company in 1897. It was 1,710 feet long. After the collapse of the Silver Bridge, all bridges along the Ohio River were inspected. The Chester Bridge was declared safe even though there was a bent grinder, broken weld spots and holes in the road. Weight and height restrictions, however, were implemented. Buses and heavy trucks had to be rerouted to the Newell Bridge or to Shippingport.. Shortly thereafter it was discovered that corrosion had eaten into the cables in the anchorage on the Ohio Side. The bridge was finally closed to all traffic on May 14, 1969
With the Chester Bridge shut down, the State set about building the Jennings Randolph Bridge, but before work begun, a controversy about the bridge’s name ensued. According to the Laurel Hollow Park site administered by Mike Gonzales (an excellent source of information. If you never visited it you will find a treasure trove of information about Newell and surrounding areas.) There was a drive to name it after Marine General Keith B. McCutcheon, a native of East Liverpool who died in 1971. A petition was submitted with 3,335 signatures – 2,036 from East Liverpool and 1,190 from Chester and Newell for McCutcheon. Politics of the era, however, prevailed and it was named after Democratic Senator Jennings Randolph.
On May 16, 1969, Governor Arch Moore of West Virginia and Governor Tom Rhodes of Ohio met in Ohio to agree on the site of the new bridge. Plans were drawn up and approved by the Coast Guard on Oct. 23, 1969. At this time, it was predicted the bridge would open in 1973. The first concrete piers were poured in June, 1971. The original estimate of the cost was $14 million, but the figure grew to $20 million. In the end the final cost was $47 million. A series of supply issues coupled with weather conditions would mean the bridge wouldn’t open to the public until 1977. It was largest truss bridge in North America at the time.
As a young mother, I began having to cross the Newell bridge once a week for Doug to get allergy shots at Pediatrician Alex Fisher’s office in East Liverpool. I would pick him up at school at 3 p.m. and we would head for bridge just in time to hit racetrack traffic and the shift change at Homer Laughlin. We would get stuck in the middle of that bridge while is swayed and shook and while I shook even more. There was no air conditioning in our Chevy Nova and I remember being terrified to have the windows down on a hot July day. Doug was six so he wasn’t in a car seat, so I made him sit right beside me in the front as we sweltered and I prayed I think I thought if I let him near the door he would leap out. I know. That makes no sense. But, there is no explanation for a mother’s rationale when it comes to her bear cub. The hysteria built up by the Silver Bridge disaster defied all logic.
I know exactly the year I last baked Christmas cookies. 1988. In 1989, I was trying to prove that I not only could do it all, but I could get it done on time. Holding a full- time job at WVNCC as I finished up my bachelor’s degree at West Liberty was a challenge especially with finals coming up. I also had a contract with the Fort Steuben Mall to produce four fashion shows for the mall and one was at Christmas. And, then there was the newspaper for the Independent Steelworkers Union ISU of Weirton Steel which I edited and produced each month. It was due to go to press in December. I had scheduled a party to celebrate my graduation and had sense enough to call on the culinary arts dept at Northern. for finger food when someone said “you know you can buy cookies.” I never looked back!
Until now. Shannon was talking about how she and Doug used to decorate butter cookies in the shape of trees, stars and Santa and suddenly she said “you should do that with the girls” I suddenly found myself searching through old cookbooks to find cookie recipes. The week that had stretched interminably before me full of past memories suddenly had a purpose: to make memories for those little girls, just like we made for their Mom and Uncle Doug suddenly seemed like just the thing I needed to do. (Although I may be hard pressed to explain Doug’s Franco Harris cookie.)
It’s time to give a Christmas memory back. I have these two little munchkins and a daughter with pleasant memories that we need to revisit.
