Zanesville Y bridge during flood photograph   Save
Norris F. Schneider Collection
Description: This photograph shows the Zanesville Y bridge during a flood of the Muskingum and Licking rivers in August 1935. The bridge was the fourth y-shaped bridge built at the same location. On January 4, 1902, it was opened for foot passengers. Ten days later, streetcars and wagons began to cross the bridge. In 1979, the fourth Y bridge was judged unsafe. The fifth bridge was opened on November 9, 1984. In 1812 a charter was granted to Moses Dillon and others to construct a toll bridge that spanned the confluence of the Muskingum and Licking rivers, connecting Zanesville with Natchez and West Zanesville. A walled, oak-planked bridge with a central pier where the forks of a "Y" met was opened to the public in 1814. A makeshift structure, this first bridge (1814-1818) needed constant repair and collapsed into the river in 1818. A second bridge (1819-1832) was built on the same site of stronger construction, but it was condemned thirteen years later when twelve-inch-thick ice in the river weakened the superstructure. During renovation work in 1832, a section of the bride collapsed, killing two men, one of whom was Ebenezer Buckingham, an owner of the bridge. The third Y bridge (1832-1900) stood until 1900. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: Om1903_1984416_001
Subjects: Climate and Weather; Floods; Muskingum River (Ohio); Licking River (Ohio); Bridges; National Register of Historic Places
Places: Zanesville (Ohio); Muskingum County (Ohio)