Tales from Superior's past
Over it goes. The single-lane bridge placed over the east Republican River crossing at Superior met its end in June, 1984. To make way for the approaches to new bridge, the old bridge was lifted off its piers and tipped into the Republican River. It was later cut up for recycling. When this picture was taken, cranes were tipping the bridge. Spectators had a ringside seat on the bridge then under construction.
Only a few hours before this picture was taken, this twisted mass of metal was carrying motor vehicles over the Republican River near the southeast corner of Superior. The Denny Meyer farm is shown in the background.
For approximately 49 years this one-lane bridge carried Webber Road traffic over the Republican River near the southeast corner of Superior. It was something to look at but there were few tears shed when it was toppled into the river 40 years ago this month to make way for the bridge still in use.
Forty years ago this June spectators gathered down by the river to watch workers employed by Capitol Bridge Company topple the overhead truss bridge which provided the Superior community's most direct access to Kansas via what is commonly called the Webber Road.
The old bridge was a sturdy on but it was creating a dangerous bottle neck on an increasingly busy road. Though when placed across the river after the 1935 flood, the Nuckolls County Commissioners thought it would adequately serve for at least 100 years, area residents were glad to see it go.
In his column published elsewhere in this issue, Bill Blauvelt shares some of the bridge's history and stories it made. But he isn't the only one with stories about the bridge that is no more. When we previously published a picture of the bridge in 2002 the following were some of the comments we received.
"I remember always having to check to make sure there wasn't any on coming traffic." - John Fullerton.
To which Ron Fullerton replied, "Especially at night by turning off your headlights to see if there were headlights from the other direction."
"I believe parts of this old bridge are currently holding up my childhood home." - Ann Thompson
"I didn't like driving on it." - Daniel McKeown.
"My father said he wanted to be the one to replace it and when the time came he got to. Closes job he ever had to home." - Mike Sibert
"When my dad drove over this bridge, he sometimes would stop in the middle so we could look at the water. It actually scared me to death." - Kim Emery.
"This bridge traumatized me. The fear of falling through or going over was very real." - Tracy Quackenbush.
"Loved this bridge. We always sand the London Bridge song when going through the bridge on our way to the cabin." - Amy Sjoholm
"In 1971, I was working for Longford Mill Products and Friday evening of Memorial Weekend I had to drive the company's Field Queen self-propelled cutter across the bridge. I caught a lot of people heading to the lake and they were not happy."-Rich Wilton
Reader Comments(0)