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Leavenworth Railroad Bridge

Leavenworth County, Kansas, and Platte County, Missouri
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Photos 

Overall View Of Bridge And Missouri River. View To South

These photos from the Historic American Engineering Record were taken July 1985 by Clayton B. Fraser

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Lost through truss swing bridge over the Missouri River at Leavenworth
Location
Leavenworth County, Kansas, and Platte County, Missouri
Status
No longer exists
History
Built 1892-94 under the direction of George S. Morison for about $300,000; dedicated Jan. 2, 1894
Builders
- George S. Morison of New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. of Leavenworth, Kansas
- Union Bridge Co.
Design
Swing Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Total length: 1,100.0 ft.
Also called
Leavenworth Terminal Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.31711, -94.90753   (decimal degrees)
39°19'02" N, 94°54'27" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/335557/4353701 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Leavenworth
Inventory number
BH 17930 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (3,822)
Built 1893 (121)
Built during 1890s (1,556)
George S. Morison (18)
HAER documented (782)
Kansas (2,280)
Leavenworth County, Kansas (24)
Lost (10,373)
Missouri (4,527)
Missouri River (95)
Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. (73)
 Movable (1,356)
Platte County, Missouri (46)
Pratt through truss (3,166)
Pratt truss (5,660)
State line crossing (514)
Swing (535)
Through truss (9,211)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,217)
Truss (23,575)
Union Bridge Co. (32)

Update Log 

  • October 31, 2009: New photo from Brian Long
  • September 13, 2008: New photos from James Baughn
  • August 14, 2005: Posted new photos

Sources 

  • HAER KS-6 - Leavenworth Bridge
  • James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
  • Brian Long
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Comments 

Leavenworth Railroad Bridge
Posted October 31, 2009, by Brian Long (railbuff652 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

There is a display where the tracks used to come off of the bridge on the Leavenworth side. The bridge tender's building, which was later converted into the Chicago Great Western depot, appears to be in the same location. I posted a current photo of the bridge location in the photo section.

Leavenworth Railroad Bridge
Posted June 22, 2009, by Greg (gbh2000 [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Additional note: The line was abandoned because of Rock Island's bankrupcy and the C&NW purchased their Des Moines to Kansas City route which was much more efficient and is still in use today.

Leavenworth Railroad Bridge
Posted September 25, 2005, by Damen Winslow (brfts2001 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

This bridge was torn down in the late 80's when the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad abandoned the line into Leavenworth.