Wheeling Suspension Bridge

Local shareholders financed Wheeling’s suspension bridge without state or federal funds.

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The words

Anchorages
Structures securing the ends of the bridge cables.
Charles Ellet
Designer of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge.
Clear Span
Unobstructed distance crossed by the main bridge span.
McComas
William K. McComas, director of the 1860 bridge rebuilding.
Post Road
Legal mail-road designation used to protect the bridge.
Stay Cables
Supporting cables of the Wheeling bridge.
Stockholders
Local investors financing the Wheeling bridge company.
Stone Towers
Masonry towers supporting the bridge cables.
Supreme Court
Court deciding the bridge obstruction dispute.
Suspenders
Vertical members hanging the roadway from the cables.
Trusses
Braced timber structures stiffening the roadway.
Wheeling
City where the National Road crossed the Ohio on the suspension bridge.
Windstorm
The 1854 storm that wrecked the bridge deck.
Wire
Drawn iron strands used in the suspension system.
Wrought Iron
The iron used for the bridge’s drawn wire.