The original right of way of the Belt Railway ran from the AT&SF railway in Argentine, KS and followed what is now Argentine Boulevard and crossed the still standing but unused bridge south of Kaw Point and the James Street bridge.
When the Kaw River is Low pieces of steel truss from the old bridge emerges along with a wooden tie lined concrete base of one of the bridge piers on the west side of the Argentine Island.
The Argentine Boulevard bridge was built in 1908 to carry Argentine Boulevard, and 18th Street.
It was a four span thru truss spanning the Kansas River.
On July 14, 1951 at the start of the great flood of 1951, an oil tanker drifted downstream from a field, and struck the bridge.
The bridge was damaged at the west span, and would never be reopened.
In 1959, with the building of the 18th Street Bridge, the Argentine Boulevard bridge was removed, and never replaced.
The old road grade leading to the bridge still exists, however fallen into disrepair.
When the water in the Kansas River is low, a piece of the truss still remains, emerging from the river bottom.
This image was taken sometime in the early 1940's. The bridge crossing at the top is the Argentine Boulevard Bridge, to the left you see some storage tanks, these are some of the tanks that took out the west end of the bridge in the flood of 1951. This image was found in the "Missouri Valley Collection" at the Kansas City Missouri Public Library.
1930's aerial of the Argentine Blvd bridge.