CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The state of Tennessee is helping to refurbish a railroad bridge that dates to before the Civil War.
“This bridge is an important piece of Clarksville’s past and its future,” Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said. “I’m pleased we could provide the funds necessary to rehabilitate the bridge and transform it into a beautiful gateway into the city’s historic river district.”
The state is giving Montgomery $945,926 to help develop the “RJ Corman Railroad Bridge Rehabilitation Project – Phase I.”
The project will help improve the bridge’s structural integrity and safety. The project will also help with “economic development and urban renewal efforts,” officials said.
“This bridge is so unique and rich with history,” state Rep. Phillip Johnson said in a news release.
The bridge, which crosses the Cumberland River, was built in 1860. The structure, which can swing to allow taller ships to pass through, originally served the Louisville & Nashville Railroad.
The bridge was the scene of an “Appalling Catastrophe,” as newspapers couched it.
In September 1906, a northbound Louisville & Nashville Railroad passenger train – No. 102 – steamed toward the swing bridge, which was open, waiting for a steamboat to pass through on its way to Paducah, Ky. The engineer, apparently unaware that he was supposed to stop, steamed toward the looking catastrophe.
The train’s locomotive, its tender, a mail car and a baggage car plunged into the Cumberland River; the train’s passenger coaches, however, remained on the trestle with passengers inside.
Two crew members died in the crash.
