Industrial History: 1904+1992 St. Charles Highway Bridges over Missouri River at St. Charles, MO

1890: (I think the pontoon bridge was at the same location as the 1904 bridge)

1904: (Bridge Hunter; HAER; Satellite, see topo map below)

1992: (Bridge Hunter; John A. Weeks III; Satellite) Discovery Bridge

Missouri's Historic Highways posted three photos with the comment: "On August 1, 1902, construction began on a permanent highway bridge across the Missouri at St. Charles. A pontoon bridge had been built in 1896, but it was destroyed by ice. Four men died building the highway bridge, which was finished just as the world's fair got underway in 1904. The bridge survived a devastating fire in 1916, a train that hit its approach on Main in 1936, and a ramming by an excursion boat in 1990. The bridge was closed in 1993, and dynamited in 1997."

3
Bridges Now and Then posted
The St. Charles Highway Bridge, St. Charles, Missouri, c. 1904. (Industrial History)
Dennis DeBruler: Why not include the URL, https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../19041992-st..., so that people have the option of seeing the other photos from Missouri's Historic Highways.

Missouri's Historic Highways posted two photos with the comment: "The original bridge over the Missouri at St. Charles was a Pontoon Bridge, built in 1890 , it was destroyed by ice and rising water after just five months."

2
[How did the people get to the pieces that are in the middle of the river?]

St. Charles Rock Road Bridge

HAER MO,92-SAICH,31--2, cropped
2. View showing south side of bridge (view rotated slightly east of north) - Old St. Charles Bridge, On Route 115, Saint Charles, St. Charles County, MO

"Significance: This is the oldest existing [HAER must have been written before 1992.] bridge over the Missouri River in the State of Missouri. It was designed by John Alexander Low Waddell, a prominent bridge engineer of the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries, of the firm of Waddell and Hedrick. It was fabricated by the Midland Bridge Company. Both firms were from Kansas City. The bridge has four main Pennsylvania (Petit) through-truss spans, plus deck truss, plate girder, deck girder, I-beam and continuous deck girder approach spans. This was the first permanent highway bridge across the Missouri River at St. Charles (a short-lived pontoon bridge preceded it). It was originally designed as a combination highway and electric train bridge. It opened in time for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and proved to be a major boon to the transportation and commerce of the city of St. Charles. It was originally a toll bridge." [HAER-data]

Postcard via BridgeHunter

1954 St. Charles Quad @ 24,000

Missouri's Historic Highways posted

First trolley car over the St. Charles Highway Bridge - April 18, 1904 - Historical Society of Missouri Buse Collection

Mark S. Phillips commented on the MHH post
To help with some clarification for those wondering.

Missouri's Historic Highways posted four photos with the comment: "March 8, 1989 - Ceremonies marked the start of construction on the new Discovery Bridge over the Missouri River between St. Charles and St. Louis Counties. The Discovery spelled doom for the historic old St. Charles Highway Bridge constructed in 1903. The old span, shown here had carried the St. Charles Rock Road, the National Old Trails Road, US 40, By-Pass US 40 and MO 115."

Vintage St. Louis & Route 66 posted
Old St Charles (Rock Rd) Bridge 1958
[Lots of comments about how it was tricky to drive because it was narrow and had a curve.]
Roger Isaac: I was cop in st Charles. We had to direct traffic coming off that bridge in peak traffic hours. Nightmare 5 days a week.

[That probably explains the big lineup of cars. St. Charles couldn't handle the traffic. And that was back when cars were huge by today's standard.]
Don Neuharth: It must have been a wet year. There appears to have been some flooding.
Dave Nelson: I remember the flood of 1951, that wiped out a good portion of the road on the East side. We lived in Harvester and my dad had to drive to the Daniel Boone Bridge Hwy 40 to get to his work.
Mark Baue: It let out at 2nd and Adams St. But you mostly turned right one block to Clark St to go through town.
David Schwartzkopf: Drove a tractor trailer across that bridge, and clipping the mirrors on the tractor trailer going the opposite direction.

Photo via route40
"Built in 1903 by the Midland Bridge Company. Designed by Waddell & Hedrick of Kansas City. It closed to vehicular traffic in 1992 and was razed in 1997."

Vintage St. Louis & Route 66 posted
Old St. Charles Highway Bridge, at that time ByPass US 40, later MO 115

HAER MO,92-SAICH,31--7
7. View of west approach, looking east of main spans (spans 6-10)

Flickr photo

Missouri's Historic Highways posted two photos with the comment: "On September 26, 1916, Sparks from a KATY train passing beneath the St. Charles Highway Bridge set fire to some pigeon's nests. The resulting blaze consumed the entire wooden bridge deck and caused major structural damage. Ferries were used during the four years it took to repair the approach. When it re-opened, a newspaper writer complained about the 'auto congestion.'"

[In the above postcard image, it looks like the approaches were wooden trestles.]

1 and Photo via BridgeHunter

Missouri's Historic Highways posted
[I was going to skip the comment because I thought it was the same. But then I noticed this has a date of Sep 20, 1916, instead of Sep 26, 1916."]
On September 20, 1916, Sparks from a KATY train passing beneath the St. Charles Highway Bridge set fire to some pigeon's nests. The resulting blaze consumed the entire wooden bridge deck and caused major structural damage. Ferries were used during the four years it took to repair the approach. When it re-opened, a newspaper writer complained about the “auto congestion.”

Missouri's Historic Highways posted three photos. [This has the comment that uses Sep 26, 1916.]

Deborah Eddleman: My mom had a picture of the old St.Charles Mo. bridge when it fell over main street. I believe a train hit one of the piers. Wish I had that picture,

Missouri's Historic Highways commented on Deborah's comment
Deborah Eddleman: Missouri's Historic Highways Yes that's it. Thank you

Discovery Bridge

Missouri's Historic Highways posted two photos with the comment: "March 8, 1989 - Ceremonies marked the start of construction on the new Discovery Bridge over the Missouri River between St. Charles and St. Louis Counties. The Discovery would doom the historic old St. Charles Highway Bridge constructed in 1903. The old span to the south had carried the St. Charles Rock Road, the National Old Trails Road, US 40 and later By-Pass US 40 and finally MO 115. The old bridge was demolished in 1997. (To clarify, the other bridge in the photo next to the Discovery is the old Wabash RR Bridge which still stands)"

2
Missouri's Historic Highways also posted with the comment: "December 17, 1992 - The new Discovery Bridge carrying Highway 370 across the Missouri River north of St. Charles was opened. It replaced the old 115 bridge upstream, built in 1903. Almost immediately, the daily backups headed for the Blanchette Bridge on Interstate 70 began to ease. At the time, the I-70/Blanchette Bridges carried about 100,000 vehicles daily while the old bridge could carry about 17,000."