BRIDGES OF METROPOLITAN CLEVELAND

Chapter 4

THE RAILROAD ERA
IN CLEVELAND BRIDGE HISTORY

As the Ohio-Erie canal made Cleveland the focal point of northern Ohio transportation in the 1820's, so the railroad era, beginning in the 1850's left a lasting mark on the growing city. The success of the canal in providing an exchange of goods and service was not lost upon the railroad promotors who quickly discovered the advantages of rail, and the disadvantages of water. The railroads brought industry and prosperity to Cleveland in the 1870's and 1880's, although they had their start as early as the 1850's. At first many people were reluctant to accept this new form of transportation. The industrialists were the first to see the commercial possibilities of rail. By the 1880's seven railroads served the city. To stimulate passenger service, railway guides were printed in the 1850's, among them The Ohio Railway Guide (1854), which described in extravagant terms the delights of rail travel and the sights to been seen along the way, including the bridges.

It may be best to start with the origins of the lines now entering Cleveland. Located in the Western Reserve of the northwest territory, Cleveland was reached with difficulty by land routes along the shores of Lake Erie or by water from Buffalo. Not until the Ohio Canal was opened in 1827 did a north-south route move goods from inland state to market. Ohio granted charters to railroads, by act of the Legislature, to meet the increasing needs of the state for improved transportation, because the canals, funded by the state of Ohio, were found to be a financial disaster, in spite of the fact that they had moved substantial tonnages and people over the 600 miles of mainline canals in the state.

Although the foresighted Canal Commissioner former mayor of the village of Cleveland, realtor and lawyer, Alfred Kelley, obtained a franchise

for a Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad in 1836, his was not the first railroad in Cleveland.

The Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad, organized in 14 March, 1836, was the first one to serve Cleveland. A group of businessmen formed the Cleveland, Warren and Pittsburgh railroad to build a railway from Cleveland to the Ohio River and on to Pittsburgh. These men chose the route judiciously, for it eventually became one of the heaviest traveled routes in the nation. It still carries iron ore from docks on the lake front to the mills of Pittsburgh. The railroad had financial troubles, and in 1845 reorganized, eliminating Warren from its name. Still in trouble, at a public meeting on 23 March, 1847, it was decided to ask Cleveland residents to back the enterprise with public funds. In an election held in April the electorate voted to contribute $200,000 of the city funds for stock to aid in construction.

now both roads belong to Conrail. About 1912 the Pennsylvania Railroad spent several million dollars in building steel girder bridges in Cleveland.

The need for east-west movement promoted a Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad to the east. This original road to the state line opened in 1852. The successor was the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, formed in 1869 by merging the Michigan-Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad (Detroit to Chicago), with the Cleveland and Toledo and the Buffalo and Erie Railroads into a system extending from Buffalo to Chicago. This railroad was principally a passenger road to provide transportation to the growing west. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern became the water-level route between New York and Chicago. When acquired by Vanderbilt, it crossed the Cuyahoga River on a swing bridge at the mouth of the river. The road then healed southwest to Berea, to avoid the deep Rocky River gorge. Here the railroad crossed over the east branch of Rocky River on a four-arch stone masonry bridge, made from local sandstone. Berea was famous for the manufacture of grindstones and for its stone quarries. The original bridge is still in use, but widened with concrete side spans. Another fourspan stone arch bridge at Painesville crossed the Grand River at a height of 90 feet. When this bridge became obsolete, it was replaced in 1909 by a four-track, single concrete arch. Proportioned as a solid masonry arch, reinforcing steel was used to unite the concrete into a solid monolith.

A classic stone masonry arch built in 1898 for the successor to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad crosses over Liberty Boulevard in Gordon Park. The bridge was designed by Charles F. Schweinfurth, eminent Cleveland architect, whose Romanesque buildings are now to be found on the register of the National Society for Historic Preservation. It is a double-track bridge, 150 feet long and 40 feet wide. This bridge is reinforced according to the Melan system. Professor Joseph Melan (1853-1941), a Viennese, became an international figure in the engineering world. The simplified structural analysis and contrived a novel and economical construction method. His principal was to construct a relatively light fabricated steel arch between piers, which served as a centering to support the forms for pouring concrete and as stiff reinforcement, to which, when necessary, additional bars could be added. Melan's system was used in building the first concrete arch-a twenty-foot span in Golden Gate Park in 1889. This structure may have influenced the design of the Schweinfurth bridge. However, unlike the Cleveland bridge, the concrete of the Golden Gate span had an imitation, rough-stone finish. Schweinfurth's use of natural stone with colored decorations and ornaments is unique.

As reinforced concrete became popular, in the early decades of the 1900's, the New York Central erected a fine example at Willoughby, over

the Chagrin River. It is a massive ribbed-arch, designed by Samuel Rockwell, Chief Engineer of the railroad, assisted by O.W. Irwin. Several stone arches exist in Elyria and Wakeman.

55 feet center-to-center of abutments. Curving under the Superior Viaduct, the railroad continues to the dock still referred to as NYPANO Docks, one of the railroad's many names.

After the Civil War, the Erie Railroad leased the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad to get to Chicago. The latter went into receivership in 1880 and was recognized as the New York, Pennsylvania and Northern Ohio Railroad (NYPANO) and leased again to the Erie in 1883. In 1896 the Erie acquired the NYPANO by stock purchase. In 1938 the Erie was in financial trouble and bought the Cleveland and Mahoning stock to save rentals of the leased line.

The Atlantic and Great Western obtained track rights from the C.C.C. and St. Louis line and ran passenger trains to the station under the Detroit-Superior Bridge, now occupied by "Diamond Jim's restaurant. Why the Atlantic and Great Western did not enter the Union Station is not known.

The Baltimore and Ohio crosses the Cuyahoga River at West Third Street and Quigley on a bascule -- one of the twin bridges. The fixed span at Denison Avenue is above the navigation limit.

The former Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad started out as the narrow gauge Conotton Valley Railroad, which ran from Canton to Cleveland. In 1883 passengers were discharged at Ontario and Huron in 1882 to a temporary depot at Commercial Street. A freight station without trackage and some bridge abutments remain. After reorganization in 1885 as the Cleveland and Canton, the now standard gauge road was extended to Zanesville. Several mergers with some additional small roads extended service to Chagrin Falls. Renamed as the Wheeling and Lake Erie, the line opened up coal fields in the Zanesville area. The road in Cleveland is single-track and is now part of the Norfolk and Western System. The bridge crossing the Cuyahoga River is not used.

The history of "Nickel Plate Road" is most interesting. The name "Nickel Plate," which was coined by a Norwalk editor, intended to indicate a superiority much as we use the term "chrome plated". The road was formerly known as the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad. The line was to parallel the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern route from Chicago to Buffalo. Organized in 1881, the line sold $16,000,000 of stock in three days. It was built in twenty-one months! In order to traverse the City of Cleveland, two small railroads -- the Rocky River Railroad (from Lakewood to West 58th Street) and a part of the old Cleveland, Painesville and Ashtabula Railroad -- were bought for the right-of-way. The latter line, popularly named the "dummy line", was so-called because at first the trains were run with "dummies" -- steam locomotives with boilers entirely concealed to resemble streetcars. A multiple-span timber trestle bridge, built about 1865, carried the dummy line over Kingsbury Run near East 55th Street. But soon the Nickel Plate was erecting major wrought-iron viaducts to replace the cumbersome wooden structures. As loads increased and production of iron became practical and economical, the iron truss bridge dominated the scene. By the 1880's all major railroad bridges were of wrought-iron.

The Nickel Plate hired the best engineers available to execute its determination to connect Chicago and New York City by the shortest route. To cut the running time, the Rocky River gorge was to be spanned at the lake by a high trestle, as was also the Cuyahoga Valley. The bridge at Rockport, (now Rocky River) was a multiple-span Bollman-truss bridge, built in 1882, It was 673 feet long and 88 feet high -- a remarkable structure in its day.

On 23 October, 1882, the first regular passenger train left in Chicago for Cleveland, and at the same time a train started westward from Cleveland.

The viaduct over the Cuyahoga was twice remodelled, in 1904 and in 1944.

George Roberts, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad and outstanding engineer, expressed admiration for the design and construction of the Nickel Plate's iron bridges. These were engineered to withstand 10 to 15 percent greater stress than the bridges on the Cincinnati Southern, then reported to be the best-built in America.

The Nickel Plate has the best grade and most direct route across northern Ohio. Both the New York Central and the Pennsylvania cross the Cuyahoga River at near lake level. These roads also cross the city streets on overhead brides, hence have steeper ruling grades. The Nickel Plate, now part of the Norfolk and Western crosses the Cuyahoga at 68 feet above water and passes under Cleveland streets both east and west.

After the first passenger train had completed its run, the New York Central bought controlling interest in the stock and manipulated the line until 1915, when the Attorney General ordered it sold under the Clayton Anti-Trust Act. The Van Sweringens purchased control of the railroad and with it the unused right-of-way that is now the roadbed of the Shaker Rapid Transit. They built the Cleveland Union Terminal complex, which opened in 1930 (without the Pennsylvania Railroad) serving the New York Central, the Big Four, the Nickel Plate and the Shaker Rapid. The Baltimore and Ohio and the Erie entered at a later date.

In order to reach the Public Square Terminal, a new viaduct and trackage were needed. The impressive Cleveland Union Terminal Railway Bridge, a fixed, high-level structure, crosses the Cuyahoga River directly south of the Detroit-Superior Viaduct, at Irish Town Bend. Built in 1929, this four-tracking railway bridge carries two Cleveland Union Terminal tracks and two Cleveland Transit System (Rapid Transit) tracks. Except for the main span, which is a deck-truss over the river, the thirty spans, are of the deck plate-girder type, and vary in length from 49 feet to 270 feet. The foundations of the structure are about 150 feet below the valley floor, being the depth of the post-glacial material that overlies the native shale. The

3,350-foot structure is owned by the Cleveland Union Terminal Company. Trains entering the station were originally pulled by electric locomotives. The bridge was never used to capacity, the magnificent train concourse is now a tennis court, and the train platforms are now a parking lot. The Cleveland Transit System uses the spare tracks.

The Cleveland "Short Line" Railroad, popularly known as the "Belt Line", was built about 1910 by the New York Central Railroad to interconnect all the rail lines entering Cleveland. This connector railroad is double-tracked. Although it was necessary to cross over or under a good many streets. there are no street crossings. The river was spanned on a 100-foot high structure near Van Epps and Schaaf Roads on the west to East 49th in Cuyahoga Heights Village on the east.

The Newburg and South Shore Railroad serves the steel mills the Cuyahoga Valley and connects with the Belt Line at Harvard Road. This line and that of the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad are short service railroads. The River Terminal Railroad serves Republic Steel, the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad serves Jones and Laughlin, and the Newburgh and South Shore Railroad, the United States Steel Company.

Disaster Leaves a Legacy

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the railroads became the nation's greatest bridge builders, as they demanded cheap and effective stream crossings. As the railroads grew, the number of bridge failures mounted in the 1870's and 1880's. One of these failures happened near Cleveland, at Ashtabula -- a disaster that had world-wide repercussions. The story of this bridge failure is worth retelling.

The story begins with William Howe, a Massechusetts housebuilder and millwright, whose invention of the Howe truss, which he patented in 1840, brought about a near monopoly in railroad brig building. The appearance of this truss marked the end of bridges built entirely of wood and the beginning of the use of iron. Designed primarily for railroads, it could be quickly and cheaply built of the greenest wood. Its chief innovation in design was the introduction of wrought-iron vertical rods that could be adjusted and readjusted long after the bridge was in service. The rods had screw-ends with washers and nuts. The parts could be easily shipped and the rods and truss timbers prefabricated, making possible quick assembly. In the Howe truss, timber was used for the chords and for the web diagonals. Iron rods used for the verticals were in tension, and the wood diagonals were in compressions.

wrought-iron. A company engineer ventured to question the wisdom of this innovation, but Amasa Stone would not listen. The length of the structure was 165 feet between massive stone abutments, It was 191/2 feet in width and the truss depth was 20 feet. "Mr. Stone's pet bridge" had tracks on the deck, which were about 70 feet above water. For thirteen years the bridge carried all the heavy traffic of the railroad's main line.

Shortly after Christmas, 1876, a northeast gale blowing in from Lake Erie piled snow along the shore. Westbound out of Buffalo came the Pacific Express, two and a half hours late. In the village of Ashtabula no persons stirred out of their homes, except those few whose work kept them out in the cold. An employee of the road, sitting by the fire in his house near the tracks, heard a series of terrific crashes, sounding like explosions. He jumped to his feet when his wife rushed into the room, crying "My God, Henry; No. 5 has gone off the bridge!" Quickly putting on his coat and boots, he ran to the bridge and saw the crumbled mass of cars and iron beams lying at the bottom of the gorge. The train -- composed of two locomotives, two express cars, two baggage cars, two day-passenger coaches, a smoking car, and a drawing-room car, and three sleepers -- was filled with holiday travelers.

As the train pulled onto the bridge, Dan McGuire at the throttle of the lead locomotive heard a thunderous report, felt the bridge sinking, and, with great presence of mind, opened the throttle valve and drove his engine full steam ahead. Although he declared that "it was like going uphill," he reached the other abutment and was safe. But one by one the other cars fell through the gap into the gorge below. Of the 157 persons aboard, only one survived the plunge and the fire that ensued. Eighty-three were killed, drowned, or burned to death on the spot.

Charles Collins, Chief Engineer of the railroad, who was highly esteemed by members of his profession, tendered his resignation, saying: " I have worked for thirty years, with what fidelity God knows, for the protection and safety of the public, and now the public, forgetting all these years of service, has turned against me." However, his resignation was not accepted; the Board of Directors gave him a vote of confidence. But a few days later Collins committed suicide, as a consequence of the attitude of both public and press who blamed him for the disaster.

Although the bridge was badly designed, the chief reason for the failure was the general lack of knowledge in handling the new material, wrought-iron.