1951: The Noontime Opening of a Cantilever Bridge in the Pittsburgh Area

April 24, 1951

In Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, a cantilever bridge crossing the Monongahela River was officially opened at noon. The bridge serves as a connection between the city of McKeesport and borough of Dravosburg. (Both McKeesport and Dravosburg are part of the Greater Pittsburgh area; the Steel City is not only the largest city in Allegheny County but also its county seat.)

Originally known as the Dravosburg Bridge, this structure replaced a bridge that had been in operation in the vicinity since 1889. That older bridge was demolished shortly after the opening of its successor.

On October 17, 1952, the Dravosburg Bridge was formally renamed after William D. Mansfield. He had served as Allegheny County commissioner and was also a state senator from that region of the Keystone State. In addition, he was publisher of the McKeesport Daily News. The renaming of the Dravosburg Bridge took place only 11 days after Mansfield died at the age of 74.

Along with carrying motor vehicles over the Monongahela River, the 1,931.1-foot (588.6-meter)-long W.D. Mansfield Memorial Bridge initially served as a link for Pittsburgh Railways streetcars. On September 5, 1963, these streetcars were replaced by buses that began operating on the bridge instead.

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/people/90647694@N00 – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

A list of crossings of the Monongahela River is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crossings_of_the_Monongahela_River