This KC bridge was built to be pretty. Modern transport hastened its demise
“Tin bridges” made William Rockhill Nelson hot under the collar. The Star’s founder, a proponent of the City Beautiful movement, didn’t like the looks of new metal bridges.. He even wrote editorials complaining about them.
But Nelson didn’t stop there. In 1900, he built what was reportedly Jackson County’s first stone bridge, on land south of Oak Hall, his majestic home where the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art now stands.
The bridge’s graceful double arch design originally carried horse and buggies across Brush Creek. But shortly after Nelson gifted the property to the city, Rockhill Road began to see automobile traffic too.
Over the next sixty years, the Rockhill Bridge (as it came to be called) underwent a series of upgrades and repairs. The biggest came in 1966, when new pillars to anchor it were put in place. A dedicated pedestrian bridge was also installed immediately to the west.
Flooding along Brush Creek, particularly the catastrophe in 1977, led to substantial improvements along the urban waterway, and ultimately hastened the stone bridge’s demise.
A more generic concrete model (that Nelson likely wouldn’t have cared for either) opened in its place in 1991.
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Looking for more Kansas City history?
The land for lovely Loose Park came with an interesting set of stipulations
Closing the downtown freeway loop took awhile. The last part to open was on the city’s West Side
We’re down to one drive-in movie theater now, but in their heyday the outdoor cinemas were plentiful