|
There was no bridge over the Ohio River in Louisville until 1870, when the Louisville Bridge Co.
(chartered in 1856) built one between Louisville and Jeffersonville. It was built for railroad use, and the L&N, along with the Pennsylvania Railroad had vested interests in it. Later the Pennsylvania solely owned it. The B&O (O&M) and Monon (LNAC); used this bridge and had small yards on the Kentucky side. The Monon had their main yard and shops in New Albany. The Pennsylvania Railroad had extended a branch line from Jeffersonville to New Albany but New Albany wanted a bridge from New Albany to Louisville, quoting exorbitant charges to go via the Pennsylvania, New Albany to Jeffersonville and across their bridge to Louisville. New Albany also wanted to get away from using the ferries to cross the river. A business man in New Albany, J.F. Gephart, spearheaded attempts to get around the Pennsylvania Railroad and the ferry lines opposition to a New Albany to Louisville bridge. Mr. Gephart found an ally in another New Albany/Cincinnati businessman, Mr. W.S. Culbertson. Mr. Culbertson's first two wives had died and his third wife was a sister to Bennett H. Young, a financier in the Louisville banking fraternity. They secured promises from the B&O and Monon, as well as the Southern RR to use a New Albany to Louisville bridge, if and when built. |
|
In 1880 both Kentucky and Indiana passed acts authorizing a bridge between Louisville and New
Albany, to be called the Kentucky & Indiana Bridge Co. The man designated as President was Bennett H. Young, formerly a Confederate colonel during the Civil War. The Legislature acts specified the bridge had to have pedestrian and horse wagon ways on it, in addition to the one railroad track. This would be the first time a wagon could cross the river other than by ferry. The bridge took from 1881 to 1885 to build. A wagon way was strung on both sides of the bridge with seven turnouts (or pockets) on each wagon way. These turnouts allowed slower wagons to pull over in a pocket to let faster horse and buggies to pass. |
|
The K&I Bridge company ran a steam passenger service across the bridge known as the Daisy
Line. It ran from First Street in Louisville along the Portland Canal and across the bridge terminating in New Albany. A small traction line extended it to Silver Hills. The passenger cars were painted yellow with brown trimming, resembling a black-eyed susan, hence the name Daisy Line. In 1893 this passenger line was electrified (one of the first in the United States) and sold to the Louisville and Northern Lighting Co. in 1906. In 1906 there were 1,250,000 passengers across the bridge. About 1908 the Louisville Railway obtained the passenger service and incorporated it into their streetcar system. The route was changed from one along the Portland Canal to one originating at 3rd and Jefferson in Louisville, using the Portland-Shelby route to 31st and Portland, turning north on 31st, and then up onto the bridge at 31st and Montgomery Street. In 1910 there were 96 streetcar crossings per day and 1,868,000 passengers for the year. On the bridge the streetcar track was set astradle the railroad track having a wider gauge. Streetcars ended in 1948 and modern day busses took over. |
|
Upon completion in 1885, the B&O, Monon, and Southern Railroads agreed to tie into the bridge.
This meant the B&O and Monon leaving the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge. The B&O stipulated the K&I Bridge Company was to replace the Kentucky side wooden trestles with iron, and when this was done it plunged the bridge company into receivership in 1893. The resulting suit by Youngstown Bridge Co., who did the trestle work, went through numerous courts and finally a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the bridge, approaches, and land had to be sold to satisfy the liens. This is when the three railroads, B&O, Monon, and Southern bid on the Bridge in 1899, and purchased it in 1900 for $700,000.00. The Bridge had cost over $ 1,000,000.00 to build, with W.S. Culbertson and W.T. Grant being the two big investors. |
|
These three railroads changed the name to Kentucky & Indiana Bridge and Railroad Co. in
1900, and in 1910 to the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad Co. They had brought in a dynamic Chief Engineer\General Manager named Wm. Mitchell in 1901 and he started pushing for a new bridge. The first bridge was already obsolete in 1910. After only 25 years it would not allow heavier engines and longer trains to use it. There was a weight restriction as to the number of cars and engines that could cross safely. Trains had to be taken across in pieces. The single track was taking 75 freight trains per day, besides the 96 streetcar crossings per day. The three railroads agreed to build another bridge and Mr. Mitchell proceeded to build a double track bridge that would last. It was built beside the first one and was hailed as the second heaviest bridge in the world, upon completion. Having the first bridges east side wagonway as a working platform, the bridge was built in two years (1910-1912), and cost over $2,000,000. |
