Ohio Valley History… The Silver Bridge: ‘It folded like a deck of cards…’
By Chris Rizer - Special to OVP
A memorial marking the spot of the Silver Bridge Disaster on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River. The marker was placed by the Colonel Charles Lewis Chapter, NSDAR. (Chris Rizer | Courtesy)
An absolute masterpiece of American engineering, the Silver Bridge was designed by the J.E. Greiner Company of Baltimore (who later designed the Chicago Skyway and Baltimore Harbor Tunnel) and built by the American Bridge Company of Pittsburgh (who later built the New River Gorge Bridge and Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge) in partnership with the West Virginia-Ohio River Bridge Corporation. The WV-ORBC had been organized just a few years prior by Dr. Charles E. Holzer, who, as someone who needed quick access to patients, intimately understood the need for quicker transportation between Ohio and West Virginia.