When was the bridge built?

The process started in 1915 when Yankton businessmen organized a private bridge company to gain approval to get the bridge built and to start fund raising to get it going. World War I intervened and progress on the bridge stopped. In 1919 it was revived again by the Yankton chamber of commerce which helped organized a new bridge company with D.B. Gurney as president. He was a local seed merchant and prominent citizen in the community. The goal was to complete the meridian highway that follows in the 6^th meridian from Mexico City Mexico to Winnipeg Canada. The project really got started in 1920 when the company hired Harrington, Howard and Ash of Kansas City to design a combined railroad and highway bridge with a moveable span to allow navigation under the bridge on the Missouri River. It began on that time frame and it took until the fall of 1923 for construction to resume and get going. It was completed in the spring of 1924 with the lift span raised for the first time in July of that year.

Who built the bridge?

I don’t know how many people it took to build the bridge but Harrington, Howard and Ash of Kansas City designed the structure and were the engineers. The builders of the bridge were the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company and the Kelly Atkinson Company. Each of them was responsible for specific aspects of the bridge construction. The manufacturer was the American Bridge Company. These three companies put the whole package together to get the bridge built. Some were responsible for building the footings, others for the steelwork and others doing the road bed work. It was a combination of three different companies that got the bridge built and one company that designed it.

What materials were used?

The material that the bridge was constructed out of was heavy steel. Steel was the framework that built the pratt-truss that holds the bridge up. The bridge has concrete piers built into the riverbed and the decks are concrete but steel was the main material to construct the bridge.

Why Steel?

Steel was the major material because it was a strong easier accessible material to build this bridge. It has several different spans that hold the bridge together. It was a common iron-steel system of bridge construction of that time. For longevity sake, the decks were made of concrete.

Why does it have two levels?

It is an interesting bridge for two reasons. It was privately funded and it was built for the upper deck to serve as a highway and the lower deck for railroad purposes. They actually laid rails on the lower deck but a railroad was never connected to the bridge and it was never used for rail purposes. The bridge eventually became the property of the city if Yankton and then the State of South Dakota. Then in 1953, the lower deck was then converted into highway purposes. The goal was to lure a railroad to come to Yankton on a North-South route but that never materialized.

How does it let river traffic through?

It has a vertical lift system. It is like a double-hung window in your home. You lift a window up to let air in…it is the same type of system used in the meridian highway bridge. One of the seven spans of the bridge is a vertical lift system. The span lifts up like a window with a counter balance system of weights to lift that portion up to allow traffic on the river to go underneath the bridge. That system was used and worked very effectively for the bridge.

When was the bridge used for river traffic?

It was used mostly in the early days of the bridge. The vertical lift span is 250 feet long and it would lift up 27 feet above the deck of the bridge. It was primarily used when it was first constructed. With the building of the dams, river traffic changed, but even by the early 1950’s it was rarely raised for river traffic any more.

What keeps it from falling down?

The bridge is built on concrete piers under the water. Concrete was poured into the bedrock of the river to provide the foundation on which the bridge is built. The piers themselves are concrete with steel spans placed on those concrete piers. It’s in unbelievably good condition for the age of the bridge and very little movement has ever taken place with the concrete piers and the bridge structure itself. It is in remarkable condition and it is a wonderful example of outstanding engineering that has worked really well.

How did they build the bridge?

The bridge that was there before was simply pontoons floating on the river. They would have been built section by section across the river. It was not built all at once. It was built a section at a time.

Were there any problems during construction?

The reason the bridge took so long to get built was that the construction money used to fund the project was raised locally. They sold shares of stock in the bridge company to get construction funds. It took a long time. They would raise some money and build part of the bridge. Then they would raise more money and build a little more. Once the bridge was in place it was a toll bridge. It stayed that way a number of years until the investors got their money back for the shares they purchased. No one made any money on the bridge except for the city of Yankton because it was a huge economic boom for the city. Now people had an easy way to drive into the city as the bridge led into historic downtown Yankton. People came up from Nebraska to Yankton to do they’re regular shopping. In the big picture the financial aspect really helped the city of Yankton.

Why was it built?

The business community in Yankton drove the construction process. They needed a way to get people from the other side of the river into the city to buy their goods and services. They had a pontoon bridge that had to be removed before the river froze. It would halt traffic across the river for a while. The pontoon bridge would then be put over the ice. It was not a very easy or convenient way for people to cross the river. The business community thought this was an excellent opportunity to finish the Pan-American meridian highway and provide a permanent way for people to get across the river to purchase things in Yankton. Yankton became the only community with a permanent bridge across the river. Vermillion did not have one and Springfield did not have a bridge. It was a big boost for Yankton to get people to come into their community. That is why the chamber of commerce, 1919, reinvigorated the whole process to get a bridge built.

The bridge now is really threatened. The federal highway people want to build a new bridge at Yankton to accommodate four lanes of traffic across the river. They’re looking at what do we do with this old bridge. The bridge is still in remarkably good condition and it would be a tragedy to have it lost. Normally when a new bridge is built an old one is destroyed. This one has such importance for it’s history and engineering design. It would be a real loss for the community of Yankton. In many ways, the Meridian Highway Bridge has become the symbol for Yankton just like the Corn Palace is for Mitchell and the Capitol is for Pierre. The meridian bridge in Yankton is its symbol too. In there promotional materials you’ll see a picture of the bridge or drawing of the bridge. We sure hope that its importance is enough to save the bridge. Whether it is for vehicular traffic or pedestrian traffic or whatever it might be used for, it’s an important bridge that just can’t be lost.

How much did it cost to build the bridge?

When the bridge was officially opened for traffic in 1924 the total cost stood at $1,146,319. Although the tracks were laid on the lower deck, the bridge was never used for rail traffic.

Has there been any unexpected impact from the construction of the bridge?

The bridge has a more historical impact now. Yankton is one of the most historic communities in the area, once being the territorial capitol. There are a lot of historic structures and districts and the entire downtown area is an historic area in the community. The community of Yankton has been working very hard all along that riverfront to develop nice park areas and the bridge has become part of that ambiance of the Missouri River in Yankton. That the bridge has become a symbol of the community is magnificent. I understand that in some cases, the bridge has become a right-of-passage for some people. To jump off the bridge into the river is a sign of a certain level of maturing or something. I know that has happened in the past. To drive across that top level of that bridge and looking down the river is absolutely gorgeous. It has become a wonderful vantage point to view the river that was probably not thought of when the bridge was first constructed. It’s just magnificent to be on the top level of that bridge and look down the river both ways.