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Frisco Bridge

Shelby County, Tennessee, and Crittenden County, Arkansas
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Photos 

All three

This color photo provided by the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department shows all three bridges; the Frisco Bridge is the middle one

Map 

Street View 

Description 

When built this was the most southerly bridge over the Mississippi River.

Facts 

Overview
Cantilevered through truss railroad bridge over the Mississippi River at Memphis
Location
Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee, and Crittenden County, Arkansas
Status
Open to railroad traffic
History
Completed May 12, 1892, under the direction of engineer George S. Morison
Builders
- A & P Roberts Co. of Pencoyd, Pennsylvania
- Alfred Noble of Stockholm, Sweden
- Baird Brothers
- Carnegie, Phipps & Co.
- Elmira Bridge Works
- George S. Morison of New Bedford, Massachusetts
- Keystone Bridge Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Lassig Bridge & Iron Works of Chicago, Illinois
- Lewis Moss
- New Jersey Steel & Iron Co.
- Pennsylvania Steel Co. of Steelton, Pennsylvania
- Pittsburg Steel Casting Co.
- Pittsburgh Bridge Co. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Ralph Modjeski of Bochnia, Poland
- Scaife Foundry & Machine Co.
- Union Bridge Co.
Design
Cantilevered Baltimore through truss. This bridge was built entirely of the newly developed open hearth steel.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 790.5 ft.
Total length: 4,887.0 ft. (0.9 mi.)
Deck width: 30.0 ft.
Also called
Memphis Bridge
Frisco Mississippi River Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+35.12888, -90.07638   (decimal degrees)
35°07'44" N, 90°04'35" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/766405/3891248 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Northwest Memphis
Inventory number
BH 32697 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (4,238)
A & P Roberts Co. (12)
Alfred Noble (2)
Arkansas (1,462)
BNSF Railway (658)
Baird Brothers (2)
Baltimore through truss (164)
Baltimore truss (180)
Built 1892 (91)
Built during 1890s (1,661)
Cantilevered (246)
Cantilevered truss (225)
Carnegie, Phipps & Co. (1)
Crittenden County, Arkansas (8)
Elmira Bridge Works (1)
George S. Morison (20)
HAER documented (813)
Have street view (13,927)
Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (43)
Keystone Bridge Co. (29)
Lassig Bridge & Iron Works (50)
 Lewis Moss (1)
Memphis, Tennessee (24)
Mississippi River (165)
Navigable waterway (1,592)
New Jersey Steel & Iron Co. (2)
Open (30,148)
Owned by railroad (5,331)
Pennsylvania Steel Co. (47)
Pittsburg Steel Casting Co. (1)
Pittsburgh Bridge Co. (22)
Ralph Modjeski (40)
Scaife Foundry & Machine Co. (1)
Shelby County, Tennessee (32)
Span length 500-1000 feet (327)
St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad (112)
State line crossing (560)
Tennessee (847)
Through truss (10,026)
Total length over 2500 feet (636)
Truss (24,727)
Union Bridge Co. (34)

Update Log 

  • March 1, 2014: New photo from Jack Schmidt
  • March 8, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Corrected builder. Pittsburgh Bridge Co. was missing the "h"
  • April 29, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "St. Louis – San Francisco Railway"
  • October 2, 2010: Updated by Ed Hollowell: Added to the design and discription.
  • November 23, 2008: New photos from James Baughn
  • September 25, 2008: New photos from James Baughn
  • February 13, 2005: Posted new photos

Sources 

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Comments 

Frisco Bridge
Posted June 10, 2011, by Gordon (grunt [at] urgentmail [dot] com)

I am amazed that this bridge has held up so well with a real lack of maintainance from the railroad.In my 57 years, I do not recall it ever being painted. G

Frisco Bridge
Posted June 14, 2010, by George Harris (ghharris44 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

I have seen the deck width quoted as being 30 feet in sseveral places. I believe this to be incorrect. I think the 30 feet may be the truss centers, but that seems a little small for a 790 ft span. I wrote a paper on this brige while in college. At the time I went to the bridge and measured the width between railings. (This was 1967. Things were different then.) If my memory is at all correct, the distance between railings, which to me defines the deck width, was 23 feet.

The deck was originally timbered even with the top of rail to allow wagon traffic between trains. This was presumably removed after the adjacent Harahan Bridge was opened.

Frisco Bridge
Posted August 22, 2007, by Gene McCluney (mccluney [at] sbcglobal [dot] net)

Regarding climbing the bridge. Operating Railroad bridges have always been private property, not built with public funds, and have always had "No Trespassing" signs. If you climb onto the bridge you are trespassing. Probably it is just the heightened security post 9/11 that results in you being arrested, though.

However you should be aware that you ARE trespassing on private railroad land and property.

Frisco Bridge
Posted September 16, 2006, by Liz Eubanks (eaeubanks [at] aol [dot] com)

My great-great grandfather, S. Robison supposedly was one of the engineers for this bridge and died after the celebration of the finishing of it - falling from the bridge and dying later at home from the injuries. I am seaching for more information about his death and who he worked for. email me at eaeubanks@aol.com if you have any info.

Frisco Bridge - Climbing the West Support Tower
Posted September 14, 2005, by Sam Teel (steel [at] midsouth [dot] rr [dot] com)

Before 9-11, we could climb the support collum on the West side. After that, we get arrested for tresspassing. Does anyone know how we might get permission to climb again?

Regards,

Sam Teel 901-921-4334