OLD BRIDGE LINKS TOWN'S PAST WITH ITS FUTURE

OLD APPLETON -- What would make a group of people spend a generation fighting to return a battered medal bridge to its former location?

"It seems like the right thing to do, so we hate to give up," said Jan Dellamano, long-time chairman of the Old Appleton Bridge Restoration Committee. "The bridge was just sort of was the focal point of the town. There with the mill, it gave the town a lot of character.

"It was situated in an area that was basically kept like a city park. That was where townspeople came to have picnics and swim and fish. I guess we're mainly doing it because the site became associated with a lot of fun and family times and had a lot of sentimental value."

The goal is to put the old superstructured bridge back on its piers as a pedestrian bridge and focal point of a small park.

The bridge is a definite piece of history. Build in 1879 by H.W. Sebastian and Co., of St. Louis, is it believed to be the second oldest iron bridge in Missouri. It is also the oldest bridge to remain in its original location. (An historic 1869 iron bridge in St. Louis was later moved and reassembled in Kimmswick.)

As part of the historic village of Old Appleton, where it long stood beside the Old McLain Mill -- tragically lost in an even worse flash flood in 1986, the bridge is also an intriguing engineering specimen. One of the last known surviving Pratt truss bridges, it is a tribute to craftsmanship of a bygone age.

"As it's been explained to me, these things would be designed specifically for the span they were going to cover," Dellamano said. "They were almost like a kit; everything was prefabricated and showed up at the site, basically ready to go. the bridge builder and engineer would order this stuff from the factory and it would just show up.

"It has some very unique fittings and parts, a lot of them hand-forged. Some are rough iron, some milled iron, some probably an early version of milled steel that came out of factories."

While the exact date of the bridge's dedication is not known, (Gene and Betty Schneider are currently researching this.) it was clearly late 1879. Schneider found a notice for request for bids for construction, posted March 6, 13, 20, 1879, in the Cash Book and a request for painting bridge, printed Sept. 25., 1879.

There is something about an old bridge that captures the imaginations of many. Dellamano admitted that he is one of those.

"Since I was a kid I had sort of a fascination for bridges," he said. "We ought to save the ones we can as long as they're not dangerous to anyone. This one is certainly a good candidate for that."

Dellamano believes the old span's location, just upstream from the current US 61 bridge makes it ideal for restoration..

"As a whole, people might not want to save every old bridge. Progress does push some of these aside," he said. "With where it's located, with the highway already away, it seemed like an ideal place to save a bridge without affecting highway.

"At the same time other bridge is so dangerous to pedestrian traffic, would serve the town. A lot of people used to take walks across town, visit neighbors, and what-not. Now they can't unless they jump into a car."

Dellamano believes it could also be an economic boost to the town that has shrank from 150 people when the bridge was built, to about half that figure today.

"The bridge being out has really has hindered use of the area and local businesses that used to be there," he said. "They're gone now. It might be some incentive for some of that business to come back, in spite of flooding, once the access is restored and we have a good supply of visitors there again."