Muskogee’s Jefferson Highway Bridge Over the Arkansas River
by:
Roger Bell
One of the most important remaining original bridge structures on the entire Jefferson Highway route is located today just a few miles to the north of Muskogee, Oklahoma. Here, across the Arkansas River, after nearly one hundred years, this remnant steel structure stands today next to a modern bridge. It’s no longer used but is a reminder of the history of the Jefferson Highway and possibly may also be a herald of that highway’s future as a heritage byway. I enthusiastically nominate the bridge as a top-ten site on the Jefferson Highway.
Early planners and builders of the historic Jefferson Highway route were certainly faced with many obstacles (both natural and economic) in route planning. An early issue in the creation of the entire route was the need to provide appropriate bridge structures for automobiles and freight traffic. The state of Oklahoma, less than ten years old at that time of the formation of the Jefferson Highway, faced many issues having to do with water crossings and inadequate bridge structures that stalled or deterred the development and usage of the highway in places.
The problem posed by the highway route’s crossing of the Arkansas River near Muskogee, Oklahoma, was well identified at the time the highway routing was first established in Oklahoma. Ever since the formation of Muskogee in 1872 at the junction of three rivers (Verdigris, Neosho and Arkansas), the crossing over the Arkansas River into Muskogee had been recognized as a potential obstacle to the flow of commerce and traffic into and out of Muskogee.
The birth of Muskogee came after the construction of the original 1872 railroad bridge near to this location that allowed the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MKT) Railroad to cross the river into the Muscogee (Creek) nation. Just after the original bridge over the Arkansas River was built, a depot was established a few miles south on level land and the community of Muskogee was born almost overnight.
This original railroad bridge for many years was a primary commercial link for Muskogee to the north not only by rail but also by wagons and related passenger traffic that used the bridge when the railroad engines were not present on the structure. Several private ferry businesses operated nearby, but the bridge was the main link for commercial activity and visitor traffic into and out of Muskogee to the north into the early twentieth century.
By 1900, Muskogee, already at the center of governmental activities in eastern Indian Territory, was in a strong growth mode as people flowed into the territory, beckoned by the expectation that a new state would come soon from the combination of the Oklahoma and Indian Territories. At that time, Muskogee was among the fastest growing cities in the southwestern United States, larger in population than Tulsa and not far behind the population size of Oklahoma City. The demand for adequate transportation into and out of Muskogee on its northern boundaries steadily increased.
In 1902, a private-enterprise bridge company was formed to create a structure known as the Spaulding Bridge. This bridge was built a few miles to the west of the old railroad bridge (in an area near the present US 69 highway bridge over the Arkansas River). The bridge had a steel frame and an oak-plank floor.
The Spaulding Bridge was a commercial undertaking principally financed and owned by Muskogee businessman H.B. Spaulding. Although the bridge provided improved transit across the Arkansas River, a toll fee was also required to use this bridge, and a toll keeper was employed to live on the site and to watch over its usage and collect the appropriate tolls ranging from fifty cents to a dollar per user, depending on what was taken across the bridge. Thick mud in the Arkansas River bottoms also made access to the bridge a constant issue for travelers.
With the continued growth of Muskogee came several new railroads, one of which was the Muskogee Union Railroad (later, following a merger, the Missouri, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad and subsequently the Kansas, Oklahoma, and Gulf Railroad), which built a new bridge across the Arkansas River to replace the old MKT (KATY) rail crossing in 1904 . It was built primarily to facilitate the railroad activity but also accommodated wagons, pedestrians, and related traffic upon payment of tolls. This bridge was sometimes called the Wybark Bridge, because to the north of the bridge was a small settlement called Wybark (largely African-American in population) that had emerged just over the Muskogee County line in Wagoner County.
At the time of the establishment of the Jefferson Highway in 1915, both bridges were marked with Jefferson Highway pole markers and signs, and both were incorporated in alternative routes for Jefferson Highway travelers between Wagoner and Muskogee. Early travelers of the Jefferson Highway in the area often chose to use the route that was thought to be in better condition, and road condition information appeared in the Muskogee and area newspapers for many years.
The route crossing Spaulding Bridge was the western one out of Muskogee, going by Agency Hill (now Honor Heights Park) and then turning north, following what was called the Military Road over the bridge to a community called Tullahassee. The eastern route went through Muskogee’s central business district, meandered through town before turning north near Bacone College, and then made its way through a community called North Muskogee (now named Okay). These routes came together at the center of Wagoner, Oklahoma, before going north.
The eastern route using the railroad bridge was shorter than the western one by six miles but required crossing not just one but two toll bridges on the route; one went over the Arkansas River and the other was located just a few miles to the north on the Verdigris River. Neither of the routes was considered adequate for substantial automobile traffic, and the tolls across both bridges restricted access and caused continual complaints by travelers and area residents.
Muskogee was one of the “cardinal points” used in determining the route of the Jefferson Highway and among the most important stops between Kansas City and New Orleans once the highway was established. Facilitating travel through this area was a priority for promoters of the highway. Clearly, however, the bridges into Muskogee stood in the way of achieving that objective.
Muskogee was also the home of the second president of the Jefferson Highway Association, David Fink. President of the Commercial Bank of Muskogee, Fink had led the Oklahoma delegation at the meeting in New Orleans in 1915 that established the Jefferson Highway. As a Muskogee leader and early promoter of the Jefferson Highway, he steadily pushed for improved roads into and through his hometown. In his speeches, he often referred to the need to build new bridges to aid the growth of the highway in Oklahoma.
Fink and other city and county leaders had begun serious discussions about how to secure a bridge across the Arkansas River that would accommodate the increasing automobile traffic moving on the Jefferson Highway. However, a Muskogee County “bridge bond” election was defeated in 1917 during the unusual conditions of the advent of World War I. As people turned their attention to the Great War, roads temporarily became less of a priority to the public. But the worsening conditions of the bridges and their poor approaches remained big problems for the community, and complaints from travelers, citizens and area farmers continued to mount.
Facing a continuing prospect of insufficient funding for building a new bridge, some began to think about rerouting the highway away from Muskogee. Noting both the bridge issues in Muskogee and Wagoner and the poor condition of the variant routes between those cities, an article published in the Eufaula Indian Journal during this period discussed the possibility of rerouting the Jefferson Highway out of Muskogee towards Tulsa and further north through Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Soon after the end of the war, supporters of the Jefferson Highway, county commissioners, and other local political leaders began to meet again and to make plans for the construction of a new toll-free, modern Jefferson Highway bridge over the Arkansas River to the north of Muskogee. At the same time, a plan moved forward for a new Wagoner County bridge over the Verdigris River, a few miles further north near Okay, Oklahoma.
In June, 1920, Muskogee County called a special election to authorize bond financing for several bridge structures in the county, including a new “free bridge” across the Arkansas River on the Jefferson Highway. Vigorous efforts made in the community and nearby area to promote passage of the proposed project soon followed.
The Muskogee Chamber of Commerce formed a “Bridge Bond” community organization that met in Muskogee’s grand Severs Hotel. The chamber also located a bond headquarters site on Fourth Street in Muskogee and established a special bond telephone number (#1209) for persons to call for information about voting and getting transportation to voting sites. Advertising signs and banners were available at the bond headquarters for “autoists” to pick up and place on their vehicles to indicate support for the proposal.
Although David Fink’s term as president of the Jefferson Highway Association had ended, he remained a strong voice of local support for the highway and good roads generally in the area. As reported in one of the local newspapers, he vigorously supported the bridge bond vote: “Muskogee is bottled up by rivers on every side, [but] we now have a chance to expand. Toll bridges are the bane of every traveler. We are hemmed in with toll bridges. In passing of the proposition we will be getting new bridges at bargain rates and securing them will mean the getting of more good roads.”
The “bridge question” passed overwhelmingly with 4,620 residents voting for the proposal and only 316 voting against it. The project to replace the toll bridges with a modern bridge that all could use free from tolls along the Jefferson Highway route was at last set to move forward.
In May,1921, the sealed bids for the building of the bridge were opened and reviewed. The bidding was highly competitive, and the winning bid of $94,000 made by the Pioneer Construction Company of Kansas City, Missouri, was well below the project’s original cost estimate of $180,000.
Construction of the new bridge began in early 1922 but immediately experienced several delays due to lack of some supplies. Later delays were attributable to the need to rework the approaches to the bridges coming from both directions.
Updates on construction progress appeared frequently in Oklahoma newspapers in 1922. One such story from an August issue of the Muskogee Times-Democrat gives an insight into the large scope of the project: “Good progress is being made on the Jefferson Highway bridge running across the Arkansas. Thirteen tons of concrete and 208 tons of steel will go into the giant structure.”
When construction of the bridge was completed on February 20, 1923, the Muskogee Times-Democrat heralded the occasion’s significance as follows: “Probably the greatest achievement of Muskogee County’s history was the completion of the bridge building this year and the free avenues now established into and out of the county for the progress of intra-state trade.” The competing Muskogee Phoenix elaborated on that commercial significance: “One of the great barriers to trade seeking to enter Muskogee was raised yesterday when the new county bridge across the Arkansas River on the Jefferson Highway four miles north of town was opened to traffic. The bridge will open a great trade territory which will pour business into Muskogee that has never come here before just because of the difficulty of crossing the Arkansas River near here.”
The bridge is an excellent example of the all-riveted type of bridge that was often built throughout the country in the 1920s. The bridge consists of one 100-foot Parker pony approach span and four 210-foot riveted through Parker spans. The total length of the bridge is 940 feet. A marking for the Inland Steel Company of Chicago, Illinois can be found on the bridge today.
The bridge served the Jefferson Highway from 1923 until late 1926, after which the highway was briefly designated US 73 and then became US 69. However, as of about 1947, US 69 was put on a new route located on the west side of Muskogee, where it remains today. The highway here became State highway 16 and the bridge became named the Highway 16 bridge. Thereafter, the old bridge carried mostly only local traffic between Muskogee and Okay and provided travelers a route to recreational activities at nearby Fort Gibson Lake which was completed in 1949. A new modern bridge was later constructed alongside the old bridge in the early 1970’s as the narrow older bridge was then considered a hazard and due for replacement. The old bridge though was not demolished and remained alongside the new bridge.
The bridge was a much-enjoyed stop on the bus tour made at the JHA conference held in Muskogee in 2015. Although it is also a popular site for taking family and graduation photos, its history and heritage are little known to the local community. Most residents in the area just refer to it as “the old bridge over the Arkansas”. However, an effort is now underway to place one of the new Jefferson Highway historical markers at the site. Some area residents are also working up plans and seeking funding for a pedestrian and bicyclist route between nearby Fort Gibson and Muskogee that would include the bridge.
Time has marched on for this historic Jefferson Highway bridge, but it remains a survivor. It has outlasted five major floods, including the one of 2019 in which record-breaking flood waters came close to going over the top of the bridge, a calamity that would have destroyed the landmark structure. Because it is also one of only a handful of original Jefferson Highway bridges remaining, it clearly qualifies as a top attraction today on the old highway.
