that bridge was an abandoned rust heap even before the hough riots.....at that point it would have been about 36 years old and was already showing serious decay and neglect. i don't want that thing restored on my dime because it will almost certainly become a superfund site we'll ALL have to pay for....let the 'community members' pay for it. i've been doing some research on the area and i found out the first and replacement bridges were built to facilitate a connection between two neighborhoods- mostly-hungarian kinsman to the east and slovak village to the west. during/after The Great Depression, the kinsman neighborhood went into decline and became populated with african-americans and was predominantly black at the time of the hough riots (nothing to do with the hough bakery, but more to do with the hough district of cleveland which was also predominantly black) in 1966. after vandalism to the footbridge, the city of cleveland removed the bridge's deck, rendering it unusable. this was apparently done to purposely segregate the two neighborhoods and prevent residents from sharing schools, as well. the suspension bridge was built in 1929-30 to facilitate a railroad right-of-way alongside kingsbury run and was built after the torso murders and elliott ness' torching of the shantytown below. ness was convinced the killer was living somewhere in the shantytown. it appears as though the city of cleveland was more responsible for the demise of this bridge than the hough riots or the torso murders themselves. THE CITY OF CLEVELAND DID THIS, PEOPLE- THEY SHOULD PAY FOR ANY RESTORATION OF THIS BRIDGE. i would imagine the city tried to justify their action by saying the vandalism and the murder victims' body parts found nearby gave them ample reason to disable the bridge as it had suddenly become 'unsafe' for anybody to cross. they've done a pretty thorough job of hiding this history but i finally found a source in a bibliography on wikipedia that gave these facts. i also found out a lot about the van swearingen brothers who basically built clevelands rapid trans system (the shaker rapid) built a planned community at shaker heights and built the terminal tower and complex downtown. the vans also paid for the suspension bridge as it was they who bought the nickel plate road below and called for the demolition of the original bridge which was 'in the road' so to speak.... i also learned a lot about marion motley who was a football legend for the browns- the reclaimed park and field just to the south of the bridge was named in his honor. its hard to do any research with all the misinfo on the web and...darn it- i actually learned something! oh, by the way, the van swearingens died in the mid 30's- basically penniless. see what good credit can do to you?
Treat it with evapo rust or phosphorus acid and then paint it with rhino shield. PT wood...real wood.
that bridge was an abandoned rust heap even before the hough riots.....at that point it would have been about 36 years old and was already showing serious decay and neglect. i don't want that thing restored on my dime because it will almost certainly become a superfund site we'll ALL have to pay for....let the 'community members' pay for it. i've been doing some research on the area and i found out the first and replacement bridges were built to facilitate a connection between two neighborhoods- mostly-hungarian kinsman to the east and slovak village to the west. during/after The Great Depression, the kinsman neighborhood went into decline and became populated with african-americans and was predominantly black at the time of the hough riots (nothing to do with the hough bakery, but more to do with the hough district of cleveland which was also predominantly black) in 1966. after vandalism to the footbridge, the city of cleveland removed the bridge's deck, rendering it unusable. this was apparently done to purposely segregate the two neighborhoods and prevent residents from sharing schools, as well. the suspension bridge was built in 1929-30 to facilitate a railroad right-of-way alongside kingsbury run and was built after the torso murders and elliott ness' torching of the shantytown below. ness was convinced the killer was living somewhere in the shantytown. it appears as though the city of cleveland was more responsible for the demise of this bridge than the hough riots or the torso murders themselves. THE CITY OF CLEVELAND DID THIS, PEOPLE- THEY SHOULD PAY FOR ANY RESTORATION OF THIS BRIDGE. i would imagine the city tried to justify their action by saying the vandalism and the murder victims' body parts found nearby gave them ample reason to disable the bridge as it had suddenly become 'unsafe' for anybody to cross. they've done a pretty thorough job of hiding this history but i finally found a source in a bibliography on wikipedia that gave these facts. i also found out a lot about the van swearingen brothers who basically built clevelands rapid trans system (the shaker rapid) built a planned community at shaker heights and built the terminal tower and complex downtown. the vans also paid for the suspension bridge as it was they who bought the nickel plate road below and called for the demolition of the original bridge which was 'in the road' so to speak.... i also learned a lot about marion motley who was a football legend for the browns- the reclaimed park and field just to the south of the bridge was named in his honor. its hard to do any research with all the misinfo on the web and...darn it- i actually learned something! oh, by the way, the van swearingens died in the mid 30's- basically penniless. see what good credit can do to you?
sorry for the long comment, but please read it as its the real deal. rob
It was once a bridge to somewhere.
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