Enon Private Drive Bridge
Photo
Enon RR Bridge
RH Oblique looking northerly.
Photo taken by K. Allen Ballard 2009
BH Photo #413333
Description
Former StL&HRR right of way thru Enon, also known as Hoeberville. When the 'Short Line' built thru this area in 1882 there was nothing here so RR officials named it Enon, which was 'NONE' spelled backwards. The US Postal Service didn't share their humor so the post office was called Hoeberville for Frank Hoeber who owned a store and post office (1883-1914). In 1917 the ICC Report on railroads indicate there was 285' long spur track and a small shed/passenger shelter (flag stop platform) with composition roof that measured 12.5' x 12.5' x 12'. The community dates to 1797 when Adam Zumwalt settled this area west of Flint Hill. In 1850, Adam's son, Solomon sold the property to Frank G. Hoeber who built a store here. Frank's son, Theodore later ran the store. In 1883, there was a store, post office, saloon, blacksmith wagon maker, cobbler, stock dealers and later a sawmill in Enon which grew to 90 residents around 1893. The Post Office closed in 1914 and the railroad was abandoned and removed in 1933. The town dried up until today with two homes on either side of MO Rt P.Facts
- Overview
- Pony plate girder bridge over McCoy Creek on Private Drive (formerly StL&HRR)
- Location
- Hoeberville, St. Charles County, Missouri
- Status
- Open to authorized vehicles only
- Future prospects
- Sign claims road as private road.
- History
- This bridge replaced a 16 span pile Timber Trestle (1917 ICC Report) ca. 1920
- Builder
- - Unknown StL&HRR contractor
- Railroad
- - St. Louis & Hannibal Railroad (StL&H)
- Design
- Pony plate girder
- Also called
- StL&H - Enon Bridge
StL&H - Hoeberville Bridge
StL&H - Station 81 Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.86873, -90.83320 (decimal degrees)
38°52'07" N, 90°49'60" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/687982/4304440 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Wentzville
- Elevation
- 415 ft. above sea level
- Inventory numbers
- StL&H MP 81.6
BH 79627 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 7, 2017: Updated by Luke: Corrected title/overview/status to reflect that the bridge is on a private road
- December 6, 2017: Updated by Luke: Added type
- December 6, 2017: Added by K. Allen Ballard, add detailed history & details
Comments
aaah....good stuff. Love the story.
The county GIS website doesn't show this road, suggesting that it is private:
https://map.sccmo.org/Main/viewers/desktop/
The old series MoDOT map of St. Charles County does show this road, but uses the dotted line symbol for a private road.
The new series MoDOT map does not show this road:
http://modot.org/newsandinfo/CountyMaps.htm
This bridge is not listed in the National Bridge Inventory.
The Census Bureau's TIGER dataset does not show this road -- which is rather odd since it includes both public and private roads.
Google Maps does label this road as Bastean Road, but I believe that's a mistake. The county GIS map shows another Bastean Road to the east leading to a subdivision, and that is a public road. It appears that Google Map is confused, which is not that unusual.
All signs point to this being a private drive.
Last time I was here the sign at Rt P entrance claimed it was a private drive. I have a fellow rail fan who said owner has called county sheriff on anyone on this road. That was 10 yrs ago. Dead end road but pretty sure it is maintained by county. At the north end of this road was a 2nd bridge (at one time) over Big Creek StL&HRR Bridge No. 116, from there the RR went to Owen. Big Creek was a 62' Thru girder w a 13 pile approach on one end and a 12 pile approach on the other.
Private property per the county GIS. Owner contact info can be found there as well.
I don’t necessarily buy that this is a private bridge. I know some landowners like marking property that isn’t theirs. If google has an actual name for the road, I would assume that the road still shows up as public on recent GIS surveys, to the best of my knowledge.
At the moment, this is the best photo I have. This is a digital scan of an old school photo I took in 2009. Hopefully, I can get a better one(s) in the near future.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mo/st-charles/enon-rr/
I can confirm this is a private road. My friends owns the property near the second bridge. The second bridge has fallen, but the pillars remain. If someone was interested in investigating further, I could probably convince him to let me show you around.