The Walnut Street Bridge is the first stop on our historical Chattanooga tour because of how well known it is in the Chattanooga skyline. There are a few controversies that go along with Chattanooga walking bridge, and don’t you worry we will talk about them. When it comes to a starting point though, the best place to start is the beginning.
Walnut Street Bridge Construction
The pedestrian bridge wasn’t originally planned to be a bridge just for walking, and it wasn’t the Walnut Street bridge until much latter as well. Lets hop in my imaginary little time machine and go back to Wednesday February 18th 1891 Chattanooga.
The front page of the Chattanooga Evening News reads
It is open! The magnificent steel bridge across the river at the foot of Walnut street was formally opened this afternoon with imposing ceremonies.
The public on foot and in vehicles can cross the beige as long as it stands free of charge,
As the first non military highway bridge across the Tennessee River, the county bridge was a pretty big deal. Between 1889 and 1891 several engineers, contractors, and craftsmen (all with very spectacular mustaches I might add) worked diligently to create the bridge we still know and love today.
During construction of the bridge three lives were lost in accidents. John Peacock apparently thought he was stepping on a boat but actually walked into the river and was swept away. Jim Murphy drown as a result of an accident where the bucket he was in with two other men was dropped from 52 feet above the river. Samuel Gifford was struck in the head by a beam due to a skiff giving way. I just finished saying how amazing it was that only three men lost their lives in the building of the bridge when I continued reading;
It is remarkable considering the carelessness with which the workmen went back and forth on the narrow beams at such height, that there are not more casualties to be chronicled.
So far, I’m a fan of writing styles for newspapers in the 1800’s. They don’t hold back telling you how they really feel.
Walnut Street Bridge Lynchings
Hop back in my pretend time machine while we go forward to a much less entertaining time to talk about in the history of Chattanoogas most well known bridge. Both men I’m about to talk about will each have their own feature in my Chattanooga history journey because their individual stories deserve so much more than a blurb in a story about a bridge.
Albert Blount
On Wednesday, February 15th 1893 the Chattanooga Press very descriptively described the scene from the night before where Albert Blount was taken from jail, where he had been confined on a charge of committing a rape on Mrs. Mary Moore, by a mob of “A Thousand Men”. He was drug 200 feet onto the bridge where the lynching took place a few minutes after 10 PM. During the time between then and when the coroner cut his body down at 1 AM it is reported 100 shots were fired at his lifeless body and 3,000 people had gone on the bridge to view his body.
Ed Johnson
On Monday, March 19th 1906, the same day the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal and order a stay of execution for Ed Johnsons charge of committing a rape on Nevada Taylor, another mob took to the jail to take Ed Johnson to the bridge. Two minutes of hanging was apparently too long for some of the lynchers to wait because they got impatient and started shooting at him. A bullet hit the rope causing Ed to hit the ground where he was shot in the head five more times. It is said the bridge was used to try and deter black residents from crossing the bridge to go to their jobs in Downtown Chattanooga.
It’s clear that the citizens of Chattanooga did not learn much in the thirteen years between the murders of Albert Blount and Ed Johnson. However, I would like to believe that they learned from their poor choices in the aftermath as there were no more lynchings from the Walnut Street bridge.
Walnut Street Bridge Repairs
We’re going to fast forward in the time machine through most of the first half of the 1900’s. The bridge was still used for automobiles and foot traffic only closing for repairs a few times until 1978 when it was closed to motor vehicles for good because of safety concerns. I’ve heard the bridge was used mostly for teenagers smoking the devils lettuce and being up to no good for the majority of the 80’s. Allegedly of course.
The pedestrian bridge was almost torn down in the late 80’s, probably because of those misbehaving teenagers, but the city of Chattanooga was lacking the funds to do so and was ultimately saved when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February of 1990. It was reopened to the public as the longest pedestrian bridge in the world in 1993.
Walnut Street Bridge As We Know It Today
Let’s hop in my imaginary time machine one more time to today. This is the view of the Walnut Street Bridge from Coolidge Park. At 2,376 feet long some claim it is still the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. Looking up the “official” longest bridge brings up results for some bridge in Portugal that is 1,696 feet long. It wins because it was intentionally built for walking only where as the Walnut Street bridge was not.
Now, I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I know some things. For example, I know that 2,376 is a bigger number than 1,696. I also know that the Walnut Street bridge is kinda like Jessica Simpsons boots. It’s made for walking. Based on those facts I invite you to join me in calling the Walnut Street bridge in Chattanooga not only an important piece of history, but the longest pedestrian bridge in the world.