1. bridgesmag.com
34
Crossing into History
BY JULIE S. TERRY
PHOTOS ASHLEY GALLAHER QUINN AND
COMPLIMENTS MARY BETH NENNI
The Ironton-Russell Bridge Has Served the
Community 94 years but Does It Have a Future?
A Grand
Old Bridge

2. bridgesmag.com 35
For the past 94 years, when you turn
west on Park Avenue toward downtown
Ironton, Ohio, you can see a truss bridge
rising above the city, stretching across the
Ohio River into downtown Russell, Kentucky.
In earlier years, the steel beams were covered
in a grayish silver paint, but lately they’ve
been drenched in sky blue. Decorative spires
previously adorned the topmost points of the
structure, but they’re long gone, along with the
wooden decking.
Known simply as the Ironton-Russell Bridge,
the span opened to great fanfare on Thursday,
April 20, 1922, with governors, business
leaders and dignitaries from Ohio, Kentucky
and West Virginia in attendance, along with
a reported crowd of 10,000. It was the first
highway bridge over the Ohio River between
Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Cincinnati,
Ohio. It would be several years before bridges
were built for other nearby cities.
The bridge was the result of the efforts
by eight Ironton businessmen who raised
$700,000 and built the bridge as a private
project in 274 days. The Ironton-Russell Bridge
Company controlled the bridge until the State
Bridge Commission of Ohio took over in 1963.
In 1982, control was transferred to the Ohio
Department of Transportation (ODOT), which
closed the tollbooth in 1983.
Through the years, thousands of working
men and women have crossed the bridge
daily on their way to jobs, while thousands
more have used the bridge for visiting family
and friends, shopping and dining on the other
side of the Ohio River. Until 1991, heavy
commercial trucks were still allowed to use the
bridge. Approximately 10,300 vehicles per day
still traverse it.
If you ask people in Ironton about the
Ironton-Russell Bridge, you’ll hear some
entertaining, touching and surprising stories.
Bridge Myths and Stories
There’s a rumor the bridge used to live out
West before it was purchased at a discount
by the Ironton businessmen, dismantled, and
then reassembled in Ironton: This has been
debunked. There’s also an untrue belief that it
is the exact design as the Silver Bridge, which
collapsed in December of 1967 in Gallipolis,
Ohio. Actually, the Silver Bridge was an eyebar-
chain suspension bridge; whereas, the Ironton-
Russell structure is a cantilever truss bridge.
People remember times when the bridge
was shut down because of icy conditions and
when a barge hit one of the bridge’s piers.
They mention the pedestrian walkway being
closed due to the peregrine falcons nesting
in the bridge’s struts. Some remember the
Ironton-Russell Bridge as “the gateway to Hill’s
Department Store and lunch at Long John
Silvers.”
Linda Pillar, 49, said, “We used to call it the
‘singing bridge’ because of the hum the floor
grates made under your tires. That’s how we
differentiated it from the Ashland Bridge when
we were little.”
James Gallagher, 91, shared this memory:
“When I was in high school, I worked as a
messenger for Western Union. The Ironton
office serviced Russell. I worked the evening
shift, of course, after school. I would ride across
the bridge on my bicycle to deliver messages
to the drug store in Russell. The flutter of the
bridge’s resident bats always accompanied
those nighttime rides.”
Some spoke about how frightening it was
when they were first learning to drive to
navigate the steep ramp and sharp turn onto
the bridge – and, most especially, if they
were trying to control a manual shift vehicle.
Motorcyclists talk about the wobbly, out-of-
control feeling they get when their tires bump
over the deck grates.
When the Ironton-Russell Bridge
opened it was a toll bridge. The
fare to cross changed over the
years. It was 25 cents before the
booth was removed in 1983.
> Continued next page
We used to call it the ‘singing bridge’
because of the hum the floor grates
made under your tires.
– Linda Pillar
“ “

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bridgesmag.com
36
James Gallagher II, 58, contributed this tale:
“One night there was a guy being chased by
police across the bridge from the Kentucky
side. His vehicle went right through the curve
on the Ironton side, went airborne and went
halfway through the second floor of a building
next to the bridge. I always wondered how
they got the car out of the side of the building.”
Kim Bustetter, 49, shared this bridge story:
“I remember when I was in high school and the
first time I felt my car do ‘a little jig’ when I was
going too fast and the grating was wet. That
experience definitely left a mark on me! We
had a new coworker start in February this year,
and my first piece of advice was when traveling
the Ironton Bridge, slow down whenever it is
wet!”
A Bridge Love Story
On the other hand, some have fond
memories of the role the bridge played in their
lives.
Joe Unger, 55, president of Unger’s Shoes,
shared heartwarming stories from his parents’
courtship and early marriage. In the 1930s,
as America was emerging from the Great
Depression, many average families did not
own a car. Joe Unger’s father, Gene, would
walk across the Ironton-Russell Bridge to see
his sweetheart Bonnie, who lived in Russell.
They’d frequently return to Ironton for dinner,
dancing, movies, parties and such. When their
evening was done, Gene escorted his date
home, and then he’d cross back to Ironton.
Vehicles and pedestrians alike were charged a
toll every time they used the bridge, so Gene
ended up paying for four trips to accomplish
one date with his girlfriend.
Joe tells another story about a time shortly
after Gene and Bonnie’s marriage in 1938. All
the wedding gifts were dropped off by well-
wishers at Bonnie’s family home in Russell. Joe
and a friend loaded up and carried the gifts
across the bridge to the couple’s new Ironton
apartment on North 4th Street. Apparently,
the most memorable expedition involved
transporting boxes of heavy, delicate dishware
from point A to point B.
“When I was a boy, I remember whenever
my dad and this other man saw each other
they’d yell, ‘Hello, Dishes!’” Joe Unger said.
“I asked why they called each other Dishes.
Dad said it was their nickname for each other
after carrying all those dishes from Russell to
Ironton, an experience neither would ever
forget.”

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bridgesmag.com 37
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End of an Era
After serving the community for more
than nine decades, the Ironton-Russell Bridge
is scheduled for demolition in early 2017.
Described by ODOT as “structurally deficient”
and “functionally obsolete,” the old steel
becomes brittle at five degrees Fahrenheit or
below. Its entry ramps, with their 90-degree
turns, are a major impediment to modern
traffic.
Construction on a replacement bridge,
named the Oakley C. Collins Memorial Bridge,
began in March 2012. It will cost of $81.4
million and is slated to open by Thanksgiving.
Can the Bridge Be Saved?
As the time draws near for the opening
of the new span, citizens are divided as to
whether the Ironton-Russell Bridge should
be saved for historic, pedestrian and tourism
purposes, or if it should be removed for safety,
aesthetic and cost reasons.
A grassroots group, headed by Ironton
resident Elle Dew, has formed to try to
preserve the bridge. They view it as a
historically significant structure that could
have new life as a tourist attraction, event
venue or pedestrian pathway. The group
influenced the Ironton City Council and mayor
on May 28 to sign a resolution for Governor
John Kasich to reconsider the demolition of the
bridge. Also in May, Preservation Ohio listed
the Ironton-Russell Bridge as one of Ohio’s
most endangered historic sites.
The “Save the Ironton-Russell Bridge”
group, a 501(c)(3) organization, operates a
Facebook page and is collecting signatures
and gathering support for saving the bridge.
The petition is available to sign at Unger’s
Shoe Store. B