Arkansas River Bridge Deco Style

[waterboy]

This link to the National Park Service gives a lot of significant information about the 11th street bridge I was unaware of. I have floated under it numerous times lately and enjoyed its unique style. Apparently at one time it was not only Victorian in style but had a RR track running down the middle of it!

http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/route66/11th_street_arkansas_river_bridge_tulsa.html


11th Street Arkansas River Bridge
National Park Service
Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program

Built in 1916-1917 over the Arkansas River in Tulsa, the 11th Street Arkansas River Bridge is significant as the first major multi-span concrete bridge in Oklahoma. The bridge became a critical link between downtown Tulsa and the oil fields to the west. The mid-1910s was a period of great activity for Tulsa because of the booming oil economy. Across the Arkansas River, West Tulsa expanded rapidly to become a busy area for refining oil. The increase in traffic and trucking associated with the oil business made replacing the earlier wooden bridge a necessity.

Built by the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company for $180,000, the 11th Street Arkansas River Bridge is a multi-span concrete arch bridge with 18 spans set on piers sunk into bedrock. Harrington, Howard and Ash of Kansas City, a firm that designed many bridges in the Midwest, engineered the bridge.  Completed in 1917 and regarded as an architectural beauty with all modern features, the bridge, at 1,470 feet long and 34 feet wide, was one of the longest concrete structures in the Midwest. It supported a railroad track in the center and single lane of vehicular traffic on each side with sidewalks adjacent to the exterior lanes. The original design included a classical balustrade and Victorian-era lighting. In 1929, the installation of new Art Deco style guardrails and lighting fixtures updated the bridge. These lights are no longer extant.

Tulsan Cyrus Avery served as County Commissioner from 1913 to 1916, and was involved with construction of the bridge. In 1924, the Federal Government appointed Avery as a consulting highway specialist and assigned him the task of creating a U.S. highway system. Recognizing the economic impacts of these highways, Avery became a strong proponent of a route from Chicago to Los Angeles that would pass through his hometown of Tulsa.  Already in existence as the primary crossing over the Arkansas River, the 11th Street Bridge became a major determining factor in defining the path of Route 66 to and through Tulsa.

A project in 1934 widened the bridge to its present width of 52 feet 8 inches and included construction of a second arch structure downstream of the 1916 structure and the connection of the new and old bridges with a single deck. New sidewalks were also built on both sides of the bridge. After completion of the project, the new 40-feet curb-to-curb width allowed the bridge to accommodate four lanes of traffic. The bridge remained in service until 1980, when it closed to traffic. In 1996, the bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places

I wonder if there are any good pics of it before it was widened and redesigned in 1934?

[Conan71]

Really strange you happened to post this today.  I came across the photo of the 1904 11th St. bridge on the THS Facebook page this morning.  "They said we couldn't but we did"

[Hoss]

Really strange you happened to post this today.  I came across the photo of the 1904 11th St. bridge on the THS Facebook page this morning.  "They said we couldn't but we did"

This is in my same 3-part Tulsa World pictorial collection my grandmother gave me for a birthday in the early '90s.  I remember it talking about how the bridge was a toll bridge.

That started early...LOL.

[Conan71]

This is in my same 3-part Tulsa World pictorial collection my grandmother gave me for a birthday in the early '90s.  I remember it talking about how the bridge was a toll bridge.

That started early...LOL.

I have the same collection, Hoss.  I'm rather a history nut, or was when I had more time to be one.

[Hoss]

I have the same collection, Hoss.  I'm rather a history nut, or was when I had more time to be one.

I remember visitors were fascinated by the pictures showing the "then and now" of certain intersections.  71st & Memorial was a hoot.

[custosnox]

This is in my same 3-part Tulsa World pictorial collection my grandmother gave me for a birthday in the early '90s.  I remember it talking about how the bridge was a toll bridge.

That started early...LOL.

I actually got that one for christmas last year from my mother. 

[waterboy]

I have one of those TW "Early Tulsa" collections also. They are fun to look at. I thought William Franklin might be interested in playing up the Deco flavor the bridge took on in 1924. And I've seen no recent efforts to try and stabilize its decline. The bridge could have been reinforced for light traffic but it looks to be a daunting task now.

It seems strange to me that I've seen no pics of the bridge in its earlier Victorian style and no pics of a railroad running down its middle. I guess they were pretty busy scooping up the oil dollars.

[Conan71]

I have one of those TW "Early Tulsa" collections also. They are fun to look at. I thought William Franklin might be interested in playing up the Deco flavor the bridge took on in 1924. And I've seen no recent efforts to try and stabilize its decline. The bridge could have been reinforced for light traffic but it looks to be a daunting task now.

It seems strange to me that I've seen no pics of the bridge in its earlier Victorian style and no pics of a railroad running down its middle. I guess they were pretty busy scooping up the oil dollars.

One would think there's some photos in the Ford collection.  I've got a couple of other Tulsa history books I can look through to see if I can find it.

I always think of you when I bike up Wikiewa (sp?) road adjacent to the river out past Sand Springs and look for the snipers up on the bluffs.  That's a desolate little place with odd people occasionally driving through, I always go through in a group

[waterboy]

You're courageous. Might be good to get one of the locals to go with you in case you get into a Deliverance type situation.

Do you follow Wekiwa to its end? I think that may be near a mobile home park up by Shell Creek. Some good sofas and refrigerators hiding along that stretch.

[Rico]

"And I've seen no recent efforts to try and stabilize its decline. " posted by waterboy.


It is strange..... This from a city ready to lynch C Bumgarner for taking out one non conforming "Bungalow".  Building an office building that doesn't use the construction materials they would like to see. etc, etc, etc............
Much easier to talk about what someone is doing wrong than to do something Wright.

[TheArtist]

   Took a peek and just realized I don't have any pics of the 11th Street Bridge as it is now, and don't have any historic ones in the Deco Style either.  Did find this one of it in its "Victorian" guise.  Was a small pic so tried to enhance it then enlarge and zoom it to try and make out some of the detail.










Here is a drawing by Corrubia of the 11th Street Bridge, deco style.  May have to do a stylized deco painting of this one day.



Here is  link to some photos of the 11th street bridge as it is today.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/art_deco_eleventh_street_arkansas_bridge.htm  

[Conan71]

You're courageous. Might be good to get one of the locals to go with you in case you get into a Deliverance type situation.

Do you follow Wekiwa to its end? I think that may be near a mobile home park up by Shell Creek. Some good sofas and refrigerators hiding along that stretch.

The routes I usually take are either Shell Creek road to 177th W. Ave then south to Wekiwa, or there's a cut off from 177th to Prue Rd. then south to Wekiwa.  I've got some friends who take it all the way to the dam and back in.  It's a fairly bumpy ride and not one of my favorite routes but I get good hill training in the routes which take me through there.

[Ed W]

I poked around on the Shorpy site and found a few images from Tulsa, but nothing on that bridge.  It wasn't an exhaustive search, however.

http://www.shorpy.com

It's amazing to see how much detail is in those glass plate images.

[waterboy]

Glad to see there is a pic of the bridge. The Victorian looked kind of industrial. Deco was a nice improvement. Is that pic looking from the West? Maybe that is Regional Medical building (former Osteopathic Hospital)? Judging by the power poles it also looks like it might have been a trolley that ran down the middle instead of a locomotive.

Ed, those Shorpy pics almost look staged they are so clear. Very cool.

[Ed W]

There was a print of a riverboat from a glass negative on Shorpy. It included the whole length of the boat but when you zoomed in, you could recognize the people standing along the rail.  A lot of those were 8x10 negatives, the same size that Ansel Adams used for much of his work. 

I may poke around in Shorpy again tonight.  But what other photo archives are accessible on line?  does the Library of Congress have one?