As the number of automobile owners increased during the early 1900s, so did demand for better roads. One of the major north-south routes was the Meridian Highway which crossed the Great Plains from Winnipeg, Canada, to Mexico City, Mexico. Now it is known as US 81, but back then it was nicknamed the “Main Street of North America.” The Meridian Highway took its name from the Sixth Principal Meridian which it roughly paralleled, and at one time was reported to be the longest international highway in the world. The last section of the highway to be completed was the Meridian Highway Bridge at Yankton, South Dakota, which spans the great Missouri River between that state and Nebraska. This historic bridge is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Prior to the construction of the Meridian Highway Bridge, those needing to cross the river at Yankton had to use a ferry service or a seasonal pontoon bridge. For this reason, talk of a bridge project was nothing new when a group of Yankton businessmen renewed the discussion in 1919. They began raising local capital and holding meetings, and as often happens, some turned heated. At one meeting in particular, “boxing gloves were resorted to in a successful effort to relieve ill feeling and restore the sanity and good nature of the bridge sponsors.”
The group founded The Meridian Highway Bridge Company and commenced a campaign to sell stock. An engineer was hired, and the first dirt was thrown in February of 1921. The company adopted a policy of paying bills in full every Saturday and continued this practice until the end. In 1923, $300,000 in bonds were issued to finish the project which had a total cost of $1,250,000. It was truly a local project since eighty-five percent of the capital was raised from a population of 20,000 people living within twenty miles of the bridge.
The bridge was said to be a lucky one as there were no serious accidents or injuries in the building of it. This fortunate bridge was also a double-decker with thirty-four feet nine inches between the lower and upper decks. It was designed for vehicular traffic on the upper level and for trains on the lower level, although it never actually saw any use by trains. The bridge proper was 1,668 feet long, and the total length including approaches was 5,863 feet. It was constructed with eight piers of reinforced concrete with steel on the upper river side. The piers measured sixteen by fifty-eight feet at the base, and the height of the piers mid-steam was sixty-eight feet six inches, with thirty-five feet below the bed of the river. A total of 30,000 pounds of steel was used.
It had a lift mechanism that allowed river traffic to pass below. The distance between the lifting span piers was 250 feet and designed so that the lifting span could be placed between any two piers in case the river changed course. The span weighed 800 tons and was able to be lifted twenty-seven feet using counterweights and a 20-hp gasoline motor.
The project put one man out of business, ferry operator Captain Joseph Geisler, but he apparently wasn’t too broken up about it as he was also a stockholder in the bridge company. He had been operating a steamboat on the Missouri since 1880 and was likely quite tired of it.
The Meridian was a toll bridge, and this was the schedule of tolls when the bridge opened in 1924:
The completion of the bridge was celebrated with a week of great pageantry. There were parades, floats, fireworks, football games, and rodeos, and a tent city with 1,000 shelters had to be constructed to accommodate all of the travelers coming from other states and countries. The town of Wausa, Nebraska, population 400, recruited residents from the entire county so it could send a delegation numbering 800. Both Canada and Mexico sent delegations to christen the bridge with bottles of water brought from their respective countries to mingle with the water of the Missouri. The Sioux sent a representative from the Rosebud Reservation to meet and clasp hands with a Yankton representative in the middle of the bridge. Dirt from every county in South Dakota and Nebraska was mixed in jars and also tossed into the river. There was even a wedding held in the center of the bridge. A crowd of 20,000 people was on-hand to witness the actual bridge dedication on October 17, 2024.
The city of Yankton took over ownership in 1946. After recouping the $700,000 purchase price through tolls, toll collection ended in 1953. The first car to drive across the toll-free bridge was reported to be a 1913 Model T “showpiece” driven by a city commissioner; unfortunately, no paper saw fit to publish a picture of the classic Ford. The two decks were converted to one-way vehicular traffic, one going north and one going south. The lift mechanism was later removed.
Today, a new bridge has been constructed for vehicular traffic crossing the Missouri at Yankton. The one-hundred-year-old Meridian Highway Bridge is now used for recreational purposes, and that upper deck still affords one beautiful view of the Missouri River.
Sources:
“Ceremonies Mark End of 29-Year Fees.” The Daily Argus Leader [Sioux Falls], 1 Dec 1953, p.1
“Great Crowd Sees Bridge Dedicated.” Norfolk Daily News, 17 Oct. 1924, p. 2.
“If We Wait – What?” The Hennessey Clipper, 30 Oct 1924, p. 4.
“New Meridian Highway Bridge.” Free Press Evening Bulletin [Winnipeg], 18 Oct 1924, p. 29.
“Wedding on New Yankton Bridge.” Polk County Democrat, 23 Oct. 1924, p. 6.
“Week of Celebration to Mark Opening Meridian Highway Bridge at Yankton.” The Lincoln Star, 3 Oct 1924, p. 6.
“Week’s Celebration to Mark Opening Yankton Bridge.” The Daily Argus Leader [Sioux Falls], 11 Oct 1924, p. 5.
“Yankton Toll House Vacant; Bridge Clear.” The North Platte Telegraph Bulletin, 2 Dec 1953, p. 2.