Moment in Time (November 3, 2022)
The bottom right inset image shows a woman in approximately 1900 walking across the original King Avenue truss bridge, which was built over the Olentangy River in 1863. The background is the spandrel arch bridge that replaced the original in 1913. The upper right inset image is of the Third Street arch bridge, built in 1919.
In the mid-1800s the area that would become Grandview Heights and Marble Cliff was separated from Columbus by the Olentangy River (originally called the Whetstone River, it was mistakenly renamed in 1833.) Wagons had to ford the river at Fifth Avenue until the first bridge, a steel “post through truss” bridge similar to the upper right inset, was built over the river at King Avenue in 1863. Another similar steel truss bridge was built at Third Avenue in 1885.
In response to Architect Frank Packard's 1908 downtown master plan, famous bridge designer Wilber Watson was hired to design new bridges at King and Third, which were built in 1912 and 1919. Wilbur Watson pioneered several innovations in bridge design, such as using precast concrete beams and steel centering in the erection of concrete bridges. A notable example Watson’s concrete bridges is the 1910 Detroit-Rocky River Bridge. Watson’s later consulting engineer work includes both the Main Avenue Bridge and Lorain-Carnegie Bridge (today, the Hope Memorial Bridge) in Cleveland—both dating from the 1930s. In Akron he designed the 1929 Goodyear Zeppelin Airdock. This enormous building covers eight-and-a-half acres, making it the largest uninterrupted interior space in the world.
The new King and Third Avenue bridges and the later Fifth Avenue bridge were designed to accommodate 50-ton trolleys and to withstand the worse possible floods, playing a large role in opening up the village to development. They were some of the first concrete spandrel arch bridges to be built and were seen as experimental and untested construction techniques at the time. All have been replaced between 1992 and 1999.
References:
1. https://bridgehunter.com/oh/franklin/bh59931/
2. https://bridgereports.com/city/columbus-ohio/
3. Wilbur J. Watson, designer of the region’s most elegant and functional concrete bridges, Cleveland Freshwater https://www.freshwatercleveland.com/breaking-ground/MasterworksWatson110421.aspx