Photographs from 1860s provide rare glimpse of bridge that propelled Kansas City’s rise
Scroll through our archive images that show the process of the Hannibal Bridge being built in Kansas City in the late 1860s. It’s rare to have so many photographs in The Star’s archive from that period as photography was still in its infancy.
The fact that there were so many photographs from this project speaks to its importance in establishing Kansas City as a major metropolitan city.
Though not photographed by acclaimed Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, these images made by unknown photographers on the banks of the Missouri River were captured just a few years after the end of the war in the style of Brady who documented events in the field to preserve for history and share the images with a broad audience. It was the infancy of what we now know as photojournalism.
Nearly 40,000 Kansas Citians packed the banks of the Missouri River to celebrate the completion of the first railroad bridge across the Missouri River on July 3, 1869.
The completion of the Hannibal Bridge, named after the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company which built the structure, set in motion for Kansas City to expand as a major metropolitan city.
Plans for the bridge and overtures to the railroad company started in the 1850s but were put on hold until after the Civil War.
Leavenworth and Kansas City were both advocating for the railroad company to build a cutoff rail line from Cameron, Mo.
Early in the process, Leavenworth was thought to have the advantage with its larger population, proximity to Fort Leavenworth, and more advanced rail development.
James F. Joy, president of the Hannibal & St. Joseph, visited both cities but eventually gave the nod to Kansas City. Business leaders Charles E. Kearney, Robert T. Van Horn, and Kersey Coates are credited for convincing the railroad company to build in Kansas City.
The bridge was eventually replaced in 1917 with the Second Hannibal Bridge, which had two decks. The lower deck was for rail traffic and the under deck was for vehicles. When the Buck O’Neil Bridge opened in 1956 to vehicular traffic, the upper deck of the Hannibal Bridge was removed.
Today, the John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil Memorial Bridge runs parallel to the second Hannibal Bridge in downtown Kansas City. The first Hannibal Bridge was slightly downstream from there.
To read more about the bridge, visit the Missouri Valley Special Collections.
