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A Bridge above Cleveland's Steel Mills: Clark Avenue Bridge

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The Clark Avenue bridge was built by the City of Cleveland at a cost of $1.5 million between 1904-1917. It spanned 6,687 feet over the upper industrial flats to Pershing Avenue and opened on October 24, 1917. The bridge closed on October 16, 1978, due to corrosive air pollution from the steel mills under and surrounding it. Demolition started in 1980 and on January 14, 1985, the last section of the bridge came down.
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Sources used in this video:
Cleveland State University Special Collections
www.clevelandmemory.org/
Cleveland Public Library/Photograph Collection
cpl.org/aboutthelibrary/subje...
Cuyahoga County Archives
www.cuyahogacounty.us/publicw...
Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/
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23 июл 2021

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Комментарии : 150

@RailroadStreet 2 года назад

If you're interested in supporting the channel, I've set up a tip jar for easy one-time donations: ko-fi.com/railroadstreetmedia. Your contributions will help me cover the costs of producing these videos, so anything is appreciated!

@jacktorse2145 2 года назад

Oldtime Clevelanders called it the "longest bridge in the world", as it connected Puerto Rico to Poland😆

@scottburns2600 2 года назад

Thats hilarious!

@hoppercar 2 года назад

I heard it went from Puerto Rico to africa

@tonyromano6220 2 года назад

Funny.

@tonyromano6220 2 года назад

I do not recall that bridge, being a west side boy. I did work in the flats just after the mills closed. Railroad tracks were still there…

@jacktorse2145 2 года назад

@@hoppercar originally Poland, times have changed in "Slavic Village"😉

@garbo3682 2 года назад

God...Cleveland use to be so busy back when I was a kid in the 70's...nothing but manufacturers everywhere...there was 2 bars on every corner...no empty lots everywhere...man how times have changed...the flats are amazing with all the bridges that razed up or swing open...its pretty cool to watch a huge ship navigate thru the Cuyahoga river

@safffff1000 7 месяцев назад

I started working for River Terminal RR a subsidy for Republic Steel from 1973-2002. I liked the bridge because it was a short drive for me to get to work. Furthermore, I worked 100's of days under that bridge moving rail cars full of coal, coke, steel and scrape. I remember when in the winter it was being repaired, and it had barrels on it to guard the repair area's. A drunk guy was running from the cops going over the bridge, he slid on some ice, then hit the barrels which shot his car in the air over the railing to where an empty gondola rail car was parked, his car flipped upside down and landed perfect into the RR car. He died as it was about a 80Ft fall. I agree it was very busy and different back then

@HaraldFinster 2 года назад

Hello, thank you for this incredible and fascinating video. It solves a 30 years old mystery to me. In 1992 I came from Germany to the US in order to take photographs of the remaining steel mills in the "Rust Belt". I traveled from Youngstown ("Sweet Jenny" was still in existence) to Cleveland without detailed knowledge about the exact locations of the steel mills. When I approached Cleveland I could just follow the skyline of the blast furnaces, but suddenly the road just ended. After viewing your video I am pretty sure that this must have been the location where the Clark Avenue Bridge used to be. The view was incredibly impressive. I noticed a road running along the valley and right across the steel works - Independence Road. I wasn't sure if it was a public road and after asking someone I could hardly believe that I was allowed to use it and to take photographs. Many of the blast furnaces shown on your stunning historic images still existed. Again, thank you for sharing this documentation. It brings back very sweet memories.

@CCWSig 2 года назад

Sadly only 2 of those blast furnaces exist today. C-5 and C-6 are the only two remaining, the picture at 0:55 is of the cast house for C-5, with C-6 barely visible behind it. These is no public access to these anymore. Independence road, under where the Clarke Ave. bridge was is immensely popular with railway fans for taking photographs. It is one of the few places where you can get very close to trains, and see lots of traffic.

@HaraldFinster 2 года назад

@The mysterious Miss X I am really sorry, if my gratitude seemed to have gone to the wrong person. From my own experience I know how you feel. During the last 30 years I created a huge collection of industrial photographs (including the Cleveland steelworks) and my photographs are often copied and used without my permission and without giving credits to me.

@CCWSig 2 года назад

@The mysterious Miss X I'll thank you as well, but leave the chip on your shoulder at home.

@BeeTriggerBee 2 года назад

@The mysterious Miss X But why are you telling people to thank you for doing your job? Because if you got paid; Someone already thanked you. I bet you clap when the pilot lands.

@dakotamilly2310 2 года назад

The way you talk about my hometown makes me feel bad for leaving😂💔

@cubbi2789 2 года назад

As many times we take the hill down into the Steelyard, I never realized this before. I will have to look next time we go. Thank you for highlighting this history of Clark Avenue

@CCWSig 2 года назад

As you're coming down Clarke Ave into Steelyard Commons, the hill to your left was one of the dumping sites for the Torso Murders back in the 1930's.

@matthewkilbane9167 2 года назад

My Father was the iron worker foreman for the city bridges and docks division for 30 years. Many an evening as a child in the 60s and 70s i heard him ranting about constant repairs and problems trying to keep that bridge up and running . He maintained many of Clevelands famous bridges . The carter rd. lift , the center street swing bridge as well as columbus rd lift bridge , and main ave . liberty boulevard bridges . Great Piece of history.

@americansaxon2101 2 года назад

I LOVE CITY! My old man use to work in the steel factories in the 70s. He stood under that bridge many times on lunch beaks. Thank you for sharing! Cleveland has a VERY Underrated Rail History! DO MORE PLS!

@jimc5694 2 года назад

I lived in Cleveland in the early 80's and walked across the bridge, as far as I could given the holes in it, before it was torn down.

@paulbergen9114 2 года назад

I came across the end of the brdge when a friend of mine wanted an overview of the valley. I told him I'm sure a bridge was here once upon.a time and thanks to your video now I know how it looked. A great trip as we get excellent coverage of the Hullett unloaders in their last months. Very nice historical photos. Sadly some people probably died from breathing that air everyday while walking to and from work every day

@CCWSig 2 года назад

Worked at the Steel Mill for a number of years. I knew the story of the bridge already, but it was nice to see the old photographs of the Steel Mill. My father has been down there for almost 40 years now, it has changed so much over the years. It was fascinating to see pictures of the old coke ovens, and blast furnaces that no longer exist. A steel bridge built over coke ovens, what could possibly go wrong? LOL. Thanks for posting the video.

@whirlwind8825 2 года назад

He says it closed in 1978 , I remember it closed in the early 70's when some portion fell apart

@kdwaynec 3 года назад

Longtime Clevelander. Great video. Thanks for the info, whoever you are!

@RailroadStreet 3 года назад

My pleasure! Thanks for watching.

@mikeputnam8049 2 года назад

I remember taking the bridge from the east side to get to Tremont Fields in the flats in the 60s. The smell wasn't too pleasant phew!!!

@austinlong2698 2 года назад

As somebody (born 1992 so too young to see the bridge) who spends every day in this area. It was very interesting watch and learn about the area, a history I had no Idea about

@georgeharris7181 2 года назад

I remember as teen going down too Quigley on Friday or Saturday nite watching drag races it was alot fun till cops showed up lol we use sit down there drinking few Beers hang out all nite my Mother worked at LTV steel as crane operator in 70s raised 5 kids on her own we lived good thanks to her 👍

@edgein3299 2 года назад

Drinking Pride of Cleveland?

@richardashwood5771 2 года назад

Ah yes. There were some great races on Quigley Rd in the 70’s. Also the motorcycle races at the Harbor Inn on Thursday nights. Truly some fun times.

@andystevenson5067 2 года назад

My family has been in Cleveland for more than 100 years. My dad told me about this bridge! This is the coolest video I've ever seen! These images are insane!

@andystevenson5067 2 года назад

@The mysterious Miss X that is so awesome!!!

@r.pres.4121 2 года назад

The mysterious Miss X knows nothing about Buffalo because if she wasn’t so blind and stupid she would realize that Cleveland is the urban wasteland that has very few modern new buildings and is mostly decrepit, dumpy, and obsolete old buildings. Buffalo is ten times cleaner and a lot safer than Cleveland could ever dream to be. Buffalo is way ahead of Cleveland in successful urban revitalization. In fact Buffalo’s population increased 7% between 2010 and 2020 whereas Cleveland still lost population during that same decade. Granted Buffalo still has a lot of work to do but it is a much better, cleaner, safer, and livable city than craphole Cleveland.

@robertweldon7909 2 года назад

I grew up in Cleveland, and remember the Clark Ave. bridge well. I do not remember that bridge in anything other than disrepair, and I would not travel over it for anything, besides the steel mill emissions were so thick, It could look like a smelly fog at times. More cars were rusted from the stuff than the salt on the streets in winter. That area was one of the main reasons that Cleveland had nick names like "The Mistake on the Lake", and "The Dirty City". I was fortunate to have lived on the south side, away from the stink, etc. unless we had a rare north east wind. If that happened, the smelly mill "fall out' and what ever was coming out of J & l and Republic, could make you want to toss up your lunch. (that Sulphur rotten egg smell) I don't know how folks could live on the bridge east end neighborhoods, they got the worst of it all The Cleveland you see today is far different than the 1950's, 60s, and 70's. This is one time the EPA did a good thing when they cracked down on Cleveland in the 1980's Thanks for the nice history of that nasty old bridge. ;-)

@r.pres.4121 2 года назад

Wait a minute, what! Buffalo is ten times cleaner and safer than dying decaying drug infested Cleveland. It is Cleveland that is truly the mistake on the lake and still a dirty decrepit armpit of a city. Buffalo has greatly cleaned up and we have demolished many of the urban decay and abandonment while Cleveland still is slummy and scummy. What modern buildings Cleveland is still mostly old decrepit obsolete buildings. The only brand new building you have in Cleveland is the Stokes Federal Courthouse and some new additions at Cleveland Clinic, The VA Hospital, and Case Western Reserve University. Other than that Cleveland is a dying dirty old hole of a town that makes Buffalo look like an urban utopia. Cleveland stinks like shit!

@STScott-qo4pw 2 года назад

mistake on the lake: usually old time truck drivers like me know that to be (ick) CHICAGO.

@bobgabel6497 2 года назад

I remember driving the Willow freeway ( I77 ) and smelling the sulfur and seeing the orange stained houses with stained windows dimly lit. I drove across the bridge quite a few times, lots of chuck holes. The bridge was in a scene in the movie "The deer hunter".

@anthonyvoss9150 2 года назад

That was very informative...I like the old pics of the city...street cars on Clark...Back in the day I used to go downtown to the public library and look at old pics of the city...it was looking into the past...

@paladin0654 2 года назад

I can't tell you how many times I went across this bridge. We lived on W. 12th Street and visited my grand parents on the East Side. Latter, after we moved, I worked at J.& L. Steel on breaks from John Carroll.

@sherriianiro747 2 года назад

I remember going on the Good Time boat in 1968 for school and the smog was so bad you couldn't see the sun and we had to go inside because you literally couldn't breathe. We watched the factories dump their garbage and paints into the Cuyahoga River and the trip was cut short because a classmate became ill from the smell. All I could think of is why are we here so I asked my teacher and she said this is what happens when no one speaks up. That year was the birth of the EPA.

@mikecrews9112 2 года назад

Wow I used to ride past this area almost every day, coming home from work and we would take this way, what I called the "Back way"... If you turn left at that intersection, you hit the highway going to the east side... I never knew this was a bridge 🌉 at one point, I always thought they erected those little pillars just to put up those signs! Thanks for this video from a life time clevelander!

@mmi16 2 года назад

Worked at B&O's Clark Ave. Yard for a time in 1970 - tried to clean the window - the outside surface of the window was acid etched and felt like sandpaper.

@slickrickdarula9483 2 года назад

I use to hang out at that garage at the top of the bridge!! It was owned by my buddies grandfather since way back in the 60s its still owned by people we know. It has changed so much over the years!!!!

@jpozenel 2 года назад

In 1968 I lived on the west side of Cleveland and worked on Track Ave. near Pershing. I would drive across that bridge all the time. It's funny that I never heard of it being demolished.

@lenbones7940 2 года назад

Keep up the good work buddy there's so many abandoned sites here in Cleveland you should keep making vids you seem to have a knack for it

@georgemartin1436 2 года назад

Thanks. I drove down Clark shortly after getting my license and wound up wondering why the road stopped there and why the bridge was closed....

@mrpotter315 2 года назад

Thanks for these thoughtful and informative videos. My mom's parents came from Ireland and the thrill of my Grandmother's life was to purchase a small home on Dorver Avenue. Since Granpa worked at Republic Steel, he probably used the Clark Ave Bridge to get to his laboring job! One of my favorite, and oft repated stories, is that Grandma would get annoyed at her Polish / German / Itanlian neighbors and storm into the house and in the thickest Irish brogue you can imagine say "Why those FORIENERS. Why don't they go back to thier own Country?"

@usmale4915 2 года назад

Very good video...interesting and informative! Plus you have a great voice for narration! I thoroughly enjoyed your video. Thank you for sharing!

@yojimbobo77 2 года назад

I lived on West 11th as a kid. It was still open and falling apart. I remember the smells and the orange lights...good times.

@edgein3299 2 года назад

If that smog could eat a bridge I would hate to see what it would do to your lungs.

@davida2111 11 месяцев назад

Back in the day I drove over this bridge many times and remember the large holes in the sidewalks and even right into the edge of the pavement. It reminded you of driving over Dante's Inferno and it was a little nerve wracking going over it. Stinky air , factories belching smoke on both sides, it made you think of hell.

@josephwirtz7120 2 года назад

The really scary bridge was the one made with steel grate. It was narrow and twisted around above the flats. You could see the ground bellow it and it was slippery. I forgot the name.

@lonwillis783 2 года назад

Route 2 bridge

@josephwirtz7120 2 года назад

@@lonwillis783 yes that's it. I still have nightmares about driving to the west side. Aloha

@davidkean1487 2 года назад

Main Ave bridge

@willbellii2742 2 года назад

cool.. i remember being young and seeing the orange signs sayin the bridge was closed. i now work in tremont and take quigley home and pass the two pillars every day.. it's nice to finally know the whole story.. thankyou

@RailroadStreet 2 года назад

You're welcome! Glad I could help you fill in the blanks about the history of the Clark Avenue Bridge.

@branon6565 2 года назад

In 1999, when I told my Grandfather I was movin from San Jose, Calif to a suburb of Cleveland called Westlake, Ohio, he looked at me and said: "what the hell you wanna move there for? We entered a lot of fast pitch softball tournaments in Cleveland, the air's so bad our white jerseys were an orange/brown color by noon. Piss on that, don't move there unless you're tired of bein able to breathe"...I reminded him that it wasn't 1956 any longer, it was 1999, smog like that doesn't exist like that out there any more....I was right, and I loved living there, til 9/11 happened which made me enlist in the Army....I've yet to return to Cleveland, I miss it....

@farajaraf Год назад

Come on back! It gets better every day

@mikejankowski8791 2 года назад

Thanks for the video Railroad Street. Brings back memories of childhood on Auburn Ave in Southside (Tremont), looking south across Clark Fields.

@christinevangilder6245 Год назад

I remember being so concerned with the air pollution in Cleveland, that I wrote Mayor Perk. This was early 70's when pollution was really bad, even in the Bellaire/Puritus neighborhood. I was 7 or 8 at that time. I don't remember hearing back from Mayor Perk.

@paulkohanski9545 2 года назад

Very well done. Thank you.

@countrystyleco2010 2 года назад

Even back then Cleveland's infrastructure was attempting suicide. Good lord

@TigerDominic-uh1dv Год назад

I used to work At J.And L steel and go across Clark Avenue , and I was Born on Clark Avenue

@gowdsake7103 2 года назад

Pretty much like every bridge in America

@jonesjames89 2 года назад

Can you make a Jefferson ave. bridge video?

@mikebussy3334 2 года назад

My great grandfather committed suicide jumping off the Clark Ave Bridge. He did it the day after his wedding. We don't know why?

@farajaraf Год назад

It’s hard to say if it’s intentional without proof such as witnesses or a note. Maybe he just took a look and slipped. RIP gramps

@MrYogurtMan24 2 года назад

Always wondered what those were for. I couldn’t imagine a bridge going along that mill in todays day in age

@nomar5spaulding 2 года назад

I just watched this video, as well as the video about the Huletts. Very interesting. This is also the sort of thing which makes me say, "I don't know how any adult can look at something like this and still believe that climate change is a hoax. We built a steel bridge through a factory district that polluted the local environment so fast that a marvel of engineering which was probably intended to last at least 100 years was falling apart noticably in 25 years, barely holding on after 50 years, and was closed and demolished after a little over 60 years."

@scoop4363 2 года назад

02MAR2022 - As a child in the 50s, when we drove over the bridge at night I was terrified. I just knew that the flames belching from the stacks and the glow from the buildings meant we were crossing over Hell.

@lisk3822 Год назад

I can only remember going over this bridge once in my life. I remember that the railings on the edges were very low and you could look right down onto the steel mills.It was frightening. It was also very smelly and everything was black, just like descending into hell.

@forgottenplaces9780 2 года назад

Interesting and well done, I made a vid on some of these old bridges a few years ago

@patlysobey1938 2 года назад

The smell and dirty air from the steel mills never really bothered me when I wad young. The flames from the flare stacks intrigued me especially at night when driving by on the high level bridges over the Flats. When the scrubbers on the stacks were added in the 1970s, the air was really cleaned up but by then the vertically integrated steel business was in decline. Now I realize the smell from the mills in the old days was actually the smell of money being made from raw materials and hard labor manufacturing iron and steel for industry.

@whirlwind8825 2 года назад

I remember in the 70s the bridge was closed because a section collapsed , way before 1978..somewhere around 1973......

@jmlars1 Год назад

Awesome stuff

@johnoneill5661 Год назад

If the air was so toxic that it rotted the bridge away what was it doing to the health of the people who lived there?

@robertcornelius3514 2 года назад

Speaking of corroded and worn out, how is #46 doing?

@mrsmrth322 2 года назад

6:49 The frontloader in this picture really confused me. Nice video!

@farajaraf Год назад

? 😊

@Paios 2 года назад

God damn, imagine if we had street cars still in Cleveland haha would be cool. You know... besides lolly. Do a video on the Detroit/Superior lower rail bridge subway project for the Red Line that never got finished. You know? The place they used to have ingenuity fest about 5-7 years back? That area is magical for some reason.... I think theyre turning it into a ped walkway?? Which just seems like a great place to get mugged

@brianberthold3118 2 года назад

i see a Roundhouse in that map!!!!! B&O RR Built by 1919 with Wood Frame and Brick Walls and had 15 stalls only 9 remaining and an 80foot Turntable

@paulw.woodring7304 2 года назад

Most of it now belongs to the Midwest Railway Preservation Society. They keep their equipment inside and around the W 3rd St. yard, including ex- Grand Trunk Western Mikado 2-8-2 #4070, which was the locomotive that started the Cuyahoga Valley Line (now Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad) in 1975. It last ran in 1990 and has sat needing a million dollar overhaul ever since. Another group has ex-Reading T-1 4-8-4 #2100 in another stall restoring it to operating condition. I was an early volunteer on the Valley Line in the mid to late 70s when they kept 4070 and the train in the B&O yard, and remember driving onto the Clark Av. bridge as far as the W. 3rd St. ramp to access the roundhouse from I-77. It was like driving over Hell.

@fairportrails107 3 года назад

They should rebuild it instead of doing the entire lake front because it's such a pain to get across the flats

@user-zv7lm8uk7h 2 года назад

They should get rid of crime forst

@elizabeththornton2314 2 года назад

Oh nice been here my whole life

@laurafeher9694 2 года назад

Educational

@williamerazo3921 2 года назад

What? You should do the RTA rail fleet

@DanKirchner5150 3 года назад

no need for a new one -no industry -no workers left anymore

@RailroadStreet 3 года назад

Yes, unfortunately so. One of the steel mills was torn down and converted into a shopping plaza (Steelyards Commons).

@DanKirchner5150 3 года назад

@@RailroadStreet i used to work there in the mid 90's

@neilpuckett359 2 года назад

@@RailroadStreet a shopping plaza I wonder what the occupancy rate is?

@goober239 2 года назад

Cleveland is shifting their industry. Cleveland is becoming more of a tech haven now. I think losing the steel foundries is a net positive. I would hate living near a facility burning all that nasty coal. Imagine breathing all that shit. We still have lots of workers and a booming economy, it just isn't steel anymore. Just remember that the Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it literally caught fire and burned for weeks. And we got I490.

@DanKirchner5150 2 года назад

@@neilpuckett359 totally occupied with shoplifters

@pogojava 2 года назад

Lorain-Carnegie bridge was the longest joined Puerto Rico with Africa. That’s the way I’ve been taught

@djmips 2 года назад

Da Bearsss. Just kidding. I love your videos.

@MarkL0360 2 года назад

In this video, the driver passes the eastern end of the pony-through truss span. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JWvy4Oczn-E.html

@MarkL0360 2 года назад

The point where the old bridge crossed is at 2 Minutes and 30 Seconds, on the attached video

@RailroadStreet 2 года назад

Thanks for the link to the video! Great observation on the remaining evidence of the pony-through truss's concrete wall.

@MarkL0360 2 года назад

@@RailroadStreet I remember riding a ten-speed bike across the bridge in the late 1970s, about a year before the sidewalk collapsed in one section. I remembered how "bouncy" the sidewalks were, after all, they were merely walkways welded to the side of the main road deck.

@fredygump5578 2 года назад

And 50 years later people are wondering why the EPA exists.

@None-zc5vg 2 года назад

"Corroded and crumbling" (not "Corrosive...")

@three7446 2 года назад

I didn’t finish this video but I just want to say Cleveland’s infrastructure is so old and needs so badly repairs

@r.pres.4121 2 года назад

Cleveland is a decrepit dying garbage dump of a city that cannot afford to do basic infrastructure repairs without generous state and federal handouts.

@BA-gn3qb 2 года назад

Cleveland. Aka - Mistake by the Lake.

@mikewack6778 2 года назад

You mean The Best Location in the Nation

@BA-gn3qb 2 года назад

@@mikewack6778 - Lol. Cleveland isn't even spelled correctly. Was supposed to be Cleaveland.

@donaldedler8892 2 года назад

Grew up in 70s,80s 90s. Clifton and Baltic area. 103rd...awsome people. German and polish peeps.lol

@r.pres.4121 2 года назад

Cleveland is a declining, crime ridden, decaying slum of a city whose best days are long past. Both Detroit and Buffalo are in far better shape than Cleveland and are well ahead of Cleveland in urban revitalization despite both cities still negative images.

@mikewack6778 2 года назад

@@r.pres.4121 Well clearly you haven't been to Cleveland in the last 30+ years 🙄

@don88854 2 года назад

Cleveland...Mistake by the Lake !!!

@r.pres.4121 2 года назад

That is the absolute truth. Cleveland is a filthy, crime infested shithole that is best avoided. I will never visit there ever again.

@dawnturner7055 2 года назад

No its not!!!

@ralphjohnson3202 2 года назад

@@dawnturner7055 Yes it is. Cleveland is the armpit of america.

@btzimmer 2 года назад

@@ralphjohnson3202 Who asked you?

@ems390 2 года назад

Now they got the beautiful steelyard commons. Come one, come all! Dont miss your opportunity to see low rent trash people as they shoplift everything they can. Except work boots, those seem to be left alone.

@r.pres.4121 2 года назад

That is craphole Cleveland for you, crime, scum of the earth, and vast areas of urban decay and abandonment. A city that everyone wants to leave.

@farajaraf Год назад

Please stay away from Cleveland!!!! You’re kind isn’t welcome.