Photo of the Week

by Freeman F. & Mary Daniels Brown

St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.

Week of July 7, 2002

Douglas MacArthur Bridge
Saint Louis, Missouri

The Douglas MacArthur Bridge received its current name in 1942. Before that it was named the St. Louis Municipal Bridge and was popularly known as the Free Bridge-around the time of the 1904 World's Fair, city officials believed that tolls charged for crossing the two then existing bridges were excessive, so they decided to build a new bridge and not charge highway tolls. The bridge was designed with the upper deck for highway traffic and the lower deck for train traffic. Pier construction began in December, 1909. The river spans were finished in 1912. But money ran out and several bond issues were defeated. Not until 1917 were the bridge approaches completed and the highway portion of the bridge opened to traffic. Because of poor relations between the city and the railroads, train traffic was low until 1935. In 1932 a toll of ten cents per car was collected- the money was used for relief during the Depression. Since 1981 trains alone used the bridge. In 1989 the city removed a 40-foot section of the upper deck thereby making closure of the highway deck permanent. Later the city and the Terminal Railroad exchanged bridges. Saint Louis now owns Eades Bridge and the Terminal Railroad owns MacArthur Bridge.