1882 King Bowstring Bridge
Bridges
A photo of the 1882 King Bowstring Bridge reassembled and located in the Van de Graaff Park, 3231 Robert Cardinal Road, Northport.<br /><br />The original bridge which connected Northport and Tuscaloosa over the Black Warrior River was built starting in December 1881 opening on Christmas Day, 1882. It was built by the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio and was in use until 1896. At the time it was one of four steel and iron spans over the Black Warrior River in the Tuscaloosa area. The U.S. government required a new bridge - a draw-span bridge - be built to accomodate river traffic. Th 1882 bridge was dismantled and each span was relocated to various locations in Tuscaloosa County for use as single-span bridges. <br /><br />In 2008, the Friends of Historic Northport began the process of removing the only surviving span, securing necessary funds for this project, and seeking a location in Northport for it to be reconstructed as a historic structure. <br /><br />In 2010, a group of Van de Graaff family descendents, who owned the property which was once part of the Jemison plantation on Robert Cardinal Road, gave the property to the Friends of Historic Northport to be used as a park and site of the reconstructed bridge. In 2014, the Friends leased the land for $1 per year for 99 years to the Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation Authority with the stipulation that PARA be responsible for developing and maintaining the park.<br /><br />Members of the Ironworkers local 92 under the direction of McAbee Construction reassembled the bridge according to the original factory specifications in the Park. The Park and the 1882 bridge were open to the public in September 2010.
Betty Slowe
Betty Slowe
Elizabeth Bradt (Description)
Photograph
2335
Northport (AL)
Demolition of the Drawbridge Across the Black Warrior River, 1973
Drawbridges
Black Warrior River (Ala.)
A drawbridge over the Black Warrior River that connected Northport to Tuscaloosa was used until late 1973 when the new Hugh Thomas Bridge was opened.
The drawbridge was built in 1922 at a cost of $196,511 on pillars that had been there since 1897. The pillars were encased in concrete when the drawbridge was built.
By the mid-1960s, the bridge was in need of repair and closed several times for temporary repairs, frustrating motorists who were trying to get across the river. Fortunately, by that time, the Woolsey Finnell Bridge on the U.S. Hwy. 82 By-Pass was open, so there was an alternative route. That created traffic problems on University Boulevard, however.
Work began in late 1968 on a new bridge to connect Northport and Tuscaloosa that was to become the Hugh Thomas Bridge. The bridge opened to traffic Dec. 17, 1973 at a cost of $7 million.
Efforts were made to save the old drawbridge by the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society and its president Marvin Harper, but efforts were too late and futile. The U.S. Coast Guard had issued a permit for construction of the new bridge stipulating that the old bridge be removed within 90 days of the opening of the new bridge. Though the Coast Guard had requested comments from the public before issuing the permit, evidently no requests for retention of the old bridge were received. So the old drawbridge disappeared into history.
Calvin Hannah
Tuscaloosa News Archive
The Tuscaloosa News
1972
Betty Slowe (Description)
The Tuscaloosa News
Photograph
973
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway Monument
Locks (Hydraulic engineering)
Black Warrior River (Ala.)
Dams
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway a dedication ceremony was held to unveil a 13-foot memorial marker on October 30, 2015.<br /><br />The text on the marker follows:<br /><br /><strong>Evolution of the Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway<br /><br /></strong> <strong>Early River Improvements</strong> <br />Navigation improvements to the Black Warrior River began in 1875 with a project to clear snags, trim overhanging trees, and dredge through shoals. In 1886, the U. S. Congress authorized constructing three locks overcoming the Tuscaloosa Falls, a series of rock rapids falling 25 feet in about two miles.<br /><br /> On Jan 27, 1896, an event held at this site commemorated the opening of these three locks. Remnants of these locks still exist. Locks #1 and #2 are underwater – however, the stone riverbank wall of Lock #3 is visible upriver where it retains the lower terrace of The Park at Manderson Landing. <br /><br /><strong>Creating the Waterway</strong> <br />To facilitate coal shipment, the River and Harbor Acts of 1902 and 1907 authorized various improvements to the Black Warrior and lower Tombigbee Rivers creating 17 locks and dams to provide navigation from the Port of Mobile to near Birmingham, AL.<br /><br /> Christening Lock #17 on May 13, 1915 marked the completion of the original Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway. A gala event in Tuscaloosa celebrated this occasion. <br /><br />The original Black Warrior – Tombigbee Waterway incorporated Locks #1, #2 and #3 and renamed them Locks #10, #11 and #12. <br /><br /><strong>The Waterway Today</strong> <br />The Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway provides a navigation channel nine feet deep and 200 feet wide. From its start at the foot of Water Street in Mobile, AL the waterway extends over 400 miles. Approximately 20 million tons of commerce moves on the waterway each year. Principal commodities include coal, petroleum products, wood products, and steel products. <br /><br />The dams create a series of lakes offering a variety of recreational opportunities. Two of the dams provide hydroelectric power. <br /><br /><strong>About the Navigational Marker</strong> <br />Mile “339” marks the location of the original Lock #1 which is against the river bank directly out from this mile marker. Salvaged and surplus stainless steel components from the navigation lock gates comprise the vertical elements of the mile marker.
Elizabeth Bradt
Elizabeth Bradt
November 10, 2015
Elizabeth Bradt (Description)
Photograph
2325
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Hugh R. Thomas Bridge
Bridges
Thomas, Hugh Rowe, 1934 -1967
The Hugh R. Thomas Bridge is a six-lane girder bridge that spans the Black Warrior River between Tuscaloosa and Northport. The bridge is part of both U.S. Route 43 and Alabama State Route 69. <br /><br /><span>By the mid-1960s the old drawbridge that was built in 1922 was in need of repair. It was closed several times for temporary repairs, frustrating motorists who were trying to get across the river. <br /><br />Work began in late 1968 on t</span>he new bridge which opened to traffic Dec. 17, 1973, at a cost of $7 million. <span>The drawbridge was destroyed after the new bridge was completed as the U.S. Coast Guard which had issued the permit for construction of the new bridge had stipulated that the old bridge be removed within 90 days of the opening of the new bridge.<br /></span>
<p>The bridge was named in honor of Alabama State Representative Hugh Rowe Thomas who was killed in a car wreck in April 1967 while traveling to Montgomery for a special session. He had been elected in 1966 and was just 33 years old.</p>
Elizabeth Bradt
Elizabeth Bradt
October 2019
Elizabeth Bradt (Description)
Photograph
2544
Tuscaloosa County (AL)
Train Wreck, Tuscaloosa
Railroad accidents
Mobile & Ohio train wreck near the city limits of Tuscaloosa around 6th Street, 7th Street & 8th Street bridges near Capitol Park.
J. C. Perkins (Photographer)
Tuscaloosa News Archive
Jason Townsend (Description)
Photograph
116
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Mrs. J.C. Perkins with Bicycle
Transportation
Bicycles
Mrs. J. C. Perkins stands beside one of the first bicycles seen in the Tuscaloosa area.
J.C. Perkins
Historical Commission of Tuscaloosa County
Photograph
103
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Dixie Air Incorporated
Airports
Fixed base operators industry
Dixie Air Incorporated was located at the Hargrove Van De Graaff Field. In the 1950s, Dixie Air was not only a Fixed Base Operation (handling aircraft servicing needs) but also offered certified flight instruction. It was operated by "Doc" Carl, Chuck Hozier and Bobby Cardinal. The roadway around the airport was later named the Robert Cardinal Parkway.
James Baughman
James Baughman
Circa 1950
Betty Slowe (Description)
Photograph
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Folsom-McFarland State Highway Resolution, 1988
McFarland, Ward Wharton, 1914-1979
Folsom, James Elisha, 1908-1987
State Senate of Alabama Resolution renaming State Highway 69 from Coffeeville to Guntersville, Alabama, "The Folsom-McFarland Highway."
Governor James E. Folsom, known as "Big Jim," was governor of Alabama from 1947 to 1951 and again from 1955 to 1959. McFarland was Highway Commissioner during Folsom's tenure.
McDowell Lee, Secretary of the Alabama State Senate
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Alabama State Senate
March 3, 1988
Betty Slowe (Description)
Tuscaloosa Public Library
Document
1278
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Old South Coaches, 1930
Buses
Advertisement for Old South Coaches found in the 1930 Corolla, The University of Alabama yearbook.
The Corolla, v. 37, 1930
Old South Coaches
The Corolla
The University of Alabama
1930
Paul W. Bryant Museum
Advertisement
1180
Tuscaloosa (AL)
Mobile & Ohio Railroad Bridge, 2015
Railroad
Railroad bridges---Alabama
Black Warrior River (Ala.)
Trestles
Bridges
Mobile and Ohio Railroad Company
The railroad trestle across the Black Warrior River between Tuscaloosa and Northport as it appears in 2015.
The Mobile & Ohio (M&O) Railroad trestle is a wooden and steel truss bridge that was constructed across the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa for the M&O Railroad in 1898. Civil engineer Benjamin Hardaway, an 1887 graduate of the University of Alabama and former Tuscaloosa city engineer, designed the trestle. Originally 135 feet high with a 110 ft. clearance, it was once considered by many to be the country's longest trestle at 3600 feet. The designed included a passage for steamboats. The M & O ran between Columbus, Miss., and Montgomery. Until the M & O arrived, the Alabama and Chattanooga (known after 1878 as the Alabama Great Southern or AGS) was the area’s only railroad link.
In the 1930’s M&O Railroad became the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad and then the Illinois Central Gulf and then the Kansas City Southern.
Reggie Harris
Personal Collection of Reggie Harris
2015
Betty Slowe (Description)
1927
Tuscaloosa (AL)