The Collaspe of the Falls View Bridge

The Upper Steel Arch Bridge, later known as The Falls View Bridge or Honeymoon Bridge was built in 1898. It was designed by Engineer L.L. Buck and built by the Pennsylvania Steel Company of Steelton, Pennsylvania.

This new Upper Arch Bridge replaced the older Suspension Bridge built in 1869. It was located almost 15 feet closer to the American Falls than the previous Suspension Bridge had been. At the time of its construction it was the greatest steel arch bridge in the world.

The bridge spanned 840 feet (256m) with the abutments extending to the base of the gorge and resting next to the rivers edge. In January 1938 nature would prove a formidable foe. On Tuesday, January 25th, 1938 a bitter storm lashed through the area sending vast masses of Lake Erie ice down the Niagara River and over two cataracts to accumulate in giant ice jams below.

All along the banks of the river, destruction by the mounting ice was taking place. The docks at the Maid of the Mist were destroyed and the boats themselves suffered serious damage. Fisherman’s cottages were swept away or crushed into splinters. The river level rose 30 feet at the Queenston Power Plant.

At the Ontario Power Company situated along the bank of the gorge downstream from the falls the water level rose to a record 59 feet. Ice and slush spilled through the windows of the plant rendering the facility useless and preventing electricity from being distributed. Generators became buried beneath huge mounds of ice.

As the ice made its way downstream it began to cause destruction to the Falls View Bridge. Authorities noted that the pressure against the lower girders was increasing and decided to close the bridge to traffic on the morning of January 26th at 9:15 a.m. The following day, Thursday, January 27th at approximately 4:10 p.m. the Falls View Bridge collapsed under the pressure of the enormous ice jam.

The Niagara Falls Review would state the following day in it’s newspaper “The Falls View Bridge poured a mighty belch into the misty gorge yesterday afternoon and then built a capital symbol of the crushing force which ended it’s forty years of life high above the waters. It slowly folded into a vast steely “W” – a “W” for winter.”