"A tale of grand dreams, shady politics, daring engineering experiments, greed, ambition, and westward expansion, Rails across the Mississippi is the first book-length history since 1881 to document the planning, financing, and construction of the first bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis, a national engineering landmark completed in 1874 that is now known as the Eads Bridge. Robert W. Jackson takes a fresh look at this monumental project, dispersing the myths and filling in the gaps left by earlier scholarship."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The untold story of how one sensational trial propelled a self-taught lawyer and a future president into the national spotlight. In May of 1856, the steamboat Effie Afton barreled into a pillar of the Rock Island Bridge, unalterably changing the course of American transportation history. Within a year, long-simmering tensions between powerful steamboat interests and burgeoning railroads exploded, and the nation’s attention, absorbed by the Dred Scott case, was riveted by a new civil trial. Dramatically reenacting the Effie Afton case—from its unlikely inception, complete with a young Abraham Lincoln’s soaring oratory, to the controversial finale—this “masterful” (Christian Science Monitor) account gives us the previously untold story of how one sensational trial propelled a self-taught lawyer and a future president into the national spotlight.
The first ever comprehensive history of this troubled city, the book includes more than 250 photographs amd images of the people and events that shaped East St. Louis. Andrew Theising, a professor of political science at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, examines the city's past from the prominent role it played in the growth of 19th century industrial America to its presently depleted state. For Theising, East St. Louis is more than just a river city suburb; it is an example of industry creating and then abandoning a city, and it is also one of the most misunderstood cities in America.
Route 66 zigzagged southwest across Madison County, Illinois, before crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri. Various alignments of this segment of the "Mother Road" rolled through pastoral farmland, headed down main streets, and later straightened as it bypassed towns. From 1926 to 1977, the path of the highway changed numerous times and crossed the Mississippi River on no less than five different bridges. Along the way motorists watched for the blue neon cross on St. Paul's Lutheran Church to guide their nighttime travel; they counted on the doors of the Tourist Haven, Cathcart's, or the Luna CafAA(c) to be open for business. Travelers crossed their fingers that they wouldn't get stuck at the bend of the Chain of Rocks Bridge and hoped they could make it up Mooney Hill in the winter. A later alignment took motorists right by Fairmount Park and Monks Mound.
The fascinating history of the St. Louis Bridge, the first steel structure in the world. In Spanning the Gilded Age, John K. Brown tells the daring, improbable story of the construction of the St. Louis Bridge, known popularly as the Eads Bridge. Completed in 1874, it was the first structure of any kind—anywhere in the world—built of steel. This history details the origins, design, construction, and enduring impact of a unique feat of engineering, and it illustrates how Americans built their urban infrastructure during the nineteenth century. With three graceful arches spanning the Mississippi River, the Eads Bridge's twin decks carried a broad boulevard above a dual-track railroad. To place its stone piers on bedrock, engineer James Eads pioneered daring innovations that allowed excavators to work one hundred feet beneath the river. With construction scarcely begun, Eads circulated a prospectus—offering a 500 percent return on investment—that attracted wealthy investors, including J. Pierpont Morgan in New York and his father, Junius, in London. This record-breaking design, which employed a novel method to lay its foundations and an untried metal for its arches, was projected by a steamboat man who had never before designed a bridge. By detailing influential figures such as James Eads, the Morgans, Andrew Carnegie, and Jay Gould, Spanning the Gilded Age offers new perspectives on an era that saw profound changes in business, engineering, governance, and society. Beyond the bridge itself, Brown explores a broader story: how America became urban, industrial, and interconnected. This triumph of engineering reflects the Gilded Age's grand ambitions, and the bridge remains a vital transportation artery today.
"This book examines the importance of the Mississippi River across time and through the lens of a single city: St. Louis. Features hundreds of maps, artifacts, and fascinating historic images, spanning back to St. Louis's founding and even earlier"--
