“Kansas City, Mo., though not so well-known in the East as Leavenworth, Omaha, St. Joseph and other Missouri River towns, enjoys remarkable advantages of natural location and commercial facilities.”

-Harper’s Weekly, August 6, 1869

The single most important event in the history of Kansas City was being the first town to bridge the Missouri River, a river whose current was so swift and destructive, many thought it would never be bridged. When the Hannibal Bridge opened in 1869, not only did it link Kansas City (via Hannibal, Missouri) with Chicago by railroad, but it was a demonstration of a mastery of advanced technology. The wrought-iron-on-stone-piers bridge featured a rotating draw section, and could accommodate wagon and livestock traffic when not in use by trains. It survived both an 1887 tornado and a 1903 flood.

But the bridge did not survive the coming of the automobile; it was torn down in 1917 and rebuilt with an upper deck for motor traffic. It served as the main link between downtown and Kansas City Municipal Airport until the Broadway Bridge opened in 1956. With the automobile deck removed, the Second Hannibal Bridge, as it’s known, still remains in use today as a railroad-only bridge.

Except for the Hannibal Bridge, the 1903 flood wiped out every bridge over the Kansas River and made a temporary lake of the West Bottoms. So the Intercity Viaduct was designed and built to bridge the flood-prone area and keep Kansas City, Missouri, connected with Kansas City, Kansas. Opening in 1907 with street car rails and as a toll bridge for mostly commercial traffic, it survived the 1951 and 1993 floods, and remains in use today as the west-bound lanes of Interstate 70, joined in 1962 by the Lewis and Clark Viaduct carrying east-bound Interstate traffic.

In 1911, the Armour-Swift-Burlington Bridge opened, connecting Kansas City to North Kansas City. One of only two such vertical-lift draw bridges in the world, the lower railroad deck could rise, allowing river traffic to pass below without interfering with the automobile traffic on the upper deck. The upper deck of the ASB Bridge was widened from two lanes to four in 1948, and then removed completely following the opening of the Heart of America Bridge in 1987.

Two other early bridges of note:

The Chouteau Bridge, the second bridge in the Kansas City area to span the Missouri, was built in 1887 for use by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. Converted for vehicle traffic in 1951, it was handicapped by narrow lanes and low weight restrictions, and was replaced in 2001 by the new Chouteau Trafficway Bridge.

The Fairfax Bridge, connecting Kansas City, Kansas, with Platte County, Missouri, was completed on September 27, 1934 at a cost of $600,000. It handles southbound U.S. 69 traffic to this day. The northbound traffic crosses the Missouri via the Platte Purchase Bridge, built in 1957, which though wider, mirrors the profile of the earlier bridge.

[ Appreciation to the Missouri Valley Special Collections of the Kansas City Public Library and the Historic American Engineering Record for photographs ]

Image Left Top:
The Chouteau Bridge, originally for railroad use, was converted in 1951 to a two-lane automobile bridge.

Image Middle Bottom:
The Fairfax Bridge, built in 1935, connected Kansas City, Kansas, with Platte County, Missouri.

Background Image:
The massive counterweights and pulleys which raised the railroad-level vertical-lift draw of the Armour-Swift-Burlington Bridge.

Image Right Green Box Top #1:
The single most important event in the history of Kansas City, the opening of the Hannibal Bridge over the Missouri River.

Image Right Green Box #2:
Intercity Viaduct, opening day, January 29, 1907. Note the Missouri River in background and the muddy conditions of the West Bottoms below the bridge.

Image Right Green Box #3:
Intercity Viaduct during the 1951 flood, demonstrating the reason for its construction across the West Bottoms.

Image Right Green Box #4:
Intercity Viaduct after the streetcar rails were removed and it was reconfigured for four lanes of vehicle traffic, 1951.

Image Right Green Box #5:
The Armour-Swift-Burlington Bridge made use of a vertical-lift draw which allowed river traffic to pass underneath without interrupting vehicle traffic above.

Image Right Green Box Bottom:
Second Hannibal Bridge prior to removal of the motor traffic deck, 1956.