Originally the entrance was a dry crossing that dipped down across the creek bed and back up on the other side. If it rained there was a second entry farther south. If it rained a lot the park was cut off and there was no going in or out until the water went down. I remember there being a stink about this in 1974 when Tulsa suffered a lot of serious flooding. (A really interesting history of Tulsa flooding is HERE if you are interested.) The mobile home park solved its problem when it managed to obtain one of the spans of the original 1909 bridge across the Arkansas river to Jenks.
The original Jenks bridge was built in 1909 by The Canton Bridge Co., Canton Ohio. It consisted of a series of pin-connected through Parker spans. It featured a pair of wood tracks for a road bed and provided for one way traffic. Vehicles entering from opposite sides had to take turns crossing.
This 1909 bridge served OK 11 and US 169 in the late 1930's and early 1940's. It was replaced by a 19 span pony truss bridge built in 1948. The 1909 bridge was demolished soon after the 1948 bridge was complete. The only remaining span from this bridge is the 165 foot span shown here at the mobile home park. The 1948 bridge was bypassed with a new bridge in 1995. The 1948 bridge is still in place and has been renovated into a attractive pedestrian bridge. A blog post talking about the 3 generations of Jenks bridges will be the subject of another post appearing soon in this blog. Stay tuned.
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8 comments:
Very nice! I like that style of bridge.
I thought this bridge looked rather unusual for the location. What an interesting story.
Wow - I just read through that history of flooding. It is astonishing how much the people of Tulsa had to endure to live there.
Great post and this is recycling at it's best.
As a child in the early fifties, I can remember the pleas on the radio and television to come and help fill sand bags during the spring rains. Brookside was always in danger of being flooded back then.
What a cool and fascinating story behind this bridge. When I looked at that first shot, I immediately though it was an oldie and a goodie...and I was right. I am so glad the trailer park was able to use this section instead of letting it go the way of the metal bridges in our part of VA. Lovely shots.
This bridge makes a nice looking gateway to the park.
Terrific little bridge.
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