Chattanooga Walnut Street Bridge

The Chattanooga Walnut Street Bridge is pictured in my photograph and at a 2,376 foot span, it is one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges and... more

by Kathy White

Title

Chattanooga Walnut Street Bridge

Artist

Kathy White

Medium

Photograph - Photography--greeting Cards Or Notes Are Cheaper By The Dozen!

Description

The "Chattanooga Walnut Street Bridge" is pictured in my photograph and at a 2,376 foot span, it is one of the world's longest pedestrian bridges and sits near the heart of a massive and recently completed urban renewal project. The bridge is well loved by local residents and very popular among tourists.
Built in 1890, the 2,376 feet Walnut Street Bridge was the first to connect Chattanooga, Tennessee's downtown with the North Shore. According to a plaque on the bridge, Edwin Thacher was the chief engineer for the bridge. The bridge's superstructure was assembled by the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo, Ohio, which was a prolific late 19th century bridge builder. The bridge is historically significant as an extremely long and old example of its type; according to the Historic American Engineering Record: "The bridge was apparently the first non-military highway bridge across the Tennessee River."
But the bridge does have some less than "colorful" history. The "county bridge", as the Walnut Street Bridge was once known as, connected the predominantly white city on the south side of the Tennessee River with the large black work force on the north side ("North Shore") in Hill City, a town that was annexed by Chattanooga in 1912. Two black men were lynched on the bridge: Alfred Blount on February 14, 1893, was hanged from the first span for allegedly attacking a white woman; Ed Johnson on March 19, 1906, was hanged from the second span, also for allegedly attacking a white woman. Johnson's lynching initiated a court case (United States v. Shipp) that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
The bridge was closed to motor vehicles in 1978 and sat in disuse and disrepair for nearly a decade. Repairs and structural modifications have been made to turn the bridge into what is now a pedestrian walkway. The Walnut Street Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1990. From December 2009 to May 2010, the bridge's deteriorating asphalt surface was replaced with wood planking.

Uploaded

April 10th, 2013