Spanning Cadron Creek in rural Faulkner County, the Springfield-Des Arc BridgeArkansas remains the oldest highway bridge of its type in the entire state. It is one of few remaining examples of a type engineered, designed, and patented by Zenas King and his King Bridge Manufactory and Iron Work s. Staying in the same place since 1874 has consequences though. It is dilapidated and in need of serious repair.
Set into stone abutments quarried from the area, with tubular metal chords rising 5 m above the bottom chords, the Bowstring Arch Bridge is 57 m long with a deck width of 3.5 m. It is a cast- and wrought-iron, single span, bowstring arch trough truss, with wooden beams and flooring on the deck.
Pre-fabricated according to King’s design, construction workers needed to rivet the top chord together and punch the holes in the top chord for posts and diagonals, but an error was made. When placing the first vertical on the west arch, the measurement was off by one foot. Although the rest of the panels were spaced correctly, it creates a visual skew in the bridge.
The bridge replaced a previously constructed wooden bridge, which had proved insufficient in strength and durability to withstand the frequent flooding in the area. Even before then, the location had been an important ferry crossing since before the Civil War.
As an important east-west trade route for the County Seat, the road witnessed heavy transport of goods and freight from the steamboat landing in Des Arc; the Military later improved the road, relied upon heavily by both Union and Confederate troops.
Population expanded in the area after the Civil War, and demand increased for better roads and river crossings. In 1871, citizens of the County petitioned the court for a more substantial bridge to cross Cadron Creek and received approval, awarding the contract to King Wrought Iron and Bridge Company.
Using native stone quarried a few miles north of the site of the bridge, construction began immediately on the supporting abutments, using oxen to haul the massive rock to the site. The bridge was delivered in parts by train from Iola, Kansas, after fabrication, but numerous factors delayed the project for a few years.
Local politics surrounding the necessity of the bridge, along with insufficient clauses in the contract related to cost overruns complicated matters. A division of the County into two new counties, right on Cadron Creek, created the biggest headache though. The original Conway County sued the new Faulkner County for half the cost of the bridge.
The situation finally resolved, construction completed in 1874, the bridge remained a primary crossing until 1987. The bridge survived several near catastrophes over the years, and even condemned as a danger, but remained in use, lacking a more convenient crossing.
Water washed over the wooden deck during three major floods in 1882, 1927, and 1982. It has burned, had a heavy log truck fall through the floor on one occasion, and a bulldozer on another.
A campaign to preserve the structure began in 1983, resulting in nomination for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (1987), and finally retired in favor a new less visually appealing concrete bridge in 1989.
The troubles for the bridge did not stop then, however. Plans to restore the bridge and redevelop the surrounding site as a park languished. The bridge sat abandoned until placed on the 2015 List of the Eight Most Endangered Historic Properties in Arkansas.
Recently, along with the endangered designation, new plans to rescue the structure received support from the nearby City of Conway. A planned relocation and restoration of the structure, the first in-kind of a historic metal Bridge in Arkansas, to Beaverfork Lake should begin in late summer 2016.
Multiple organizations donating time and resources to the project include: Workin’ Bridges, an Iowan non project group, will assist with moving and restoring the bridge, along with local crane Company, the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers in Little Rock.
Originally published on Atlas Obscura in July 2016. Since that time, the bridge has been successfully relocated, and reassembly began in April 2017.
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