Spanning the Waters
Riverfrontiers
Before bridges, ferry boats did a brisk business transporting passengers and their goods from shore to shore. But sometimes even ferries couldn't get through the area's frozen rivers in winter time.
It was in 1815 that the first bridge spanned the Beaver River to connect Rochester to Bridgewater. However, this covered wooden bridge was blown down six years later. Its replacement lasted lasted only 50 years before it was lost in a flood. In 1885, a toll bridge was constructed that was destroyed by fire in 1931. Today, you can see the fourth version of the Rochester-Bridgewater Bridge. Built in 1933 and repaired in 1977, it is still in use today. Some say the structure resembles the head, back and tail of a beaver.
Crossing the wide Ohio River with a bridge was a more challenging matter. The first bridge connecting Rochester to Monaca over the Ohio was a lengthy suspension bridge known as the Ohio River Bridge that served the area from 1895 to 1930. A second bridge was built in 1932 and closed in 1983. Now crossing the Ohio in nearly the same spot is the Rochester-Monaca Bridge - a highway bridge that was completed in 1986 and is the third bridge built on the site. Sometimes known as the Monaca-Rochester Bridge, the bridge's current name depends on the outcome of the annual football game between rival high schools in Rochester and Monaca.
Up river from Rochester is another highway bridge that also crosses the Ohio River - the East Rochester-Monaca Bridge which was completed in 1959. Once a toll bridge, it is now a free bridge that is still in use.
The railroad also needed to cross the rivers and from here you can see two railroad bridges: the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad Bridge which crosses the Beaver River and the P&LE Bridge which spans the Ohio. Rochester's bridges, railroads, river routes, former canals, and current highways make an important intermodal hub for Beaver County and the nation - both yesterday and today.
A Feat of Engineering
The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie (P&LE) Railroad Bridge that spans the Ohio River between Monaca and Bridgeport was completed in 1910 and was considered an engineering marvel. Built by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co. of Pittsburgh, the bridge sections were built from both sides of the river. This was a complex project requiring much manpower and engineering expertise. When the two sides met up to be joined in the middle, the sections were only off by one-eighth of an inch! Built to withstand heavy loads, it is said that 50 freight engines were parked on the bridge to prove its strength to the public before it was opened for use.
Marker is on Water Street west of Harrison Street, on the left when traveling west.
Courtesy hmdb.org
