Rockport Swing Bridge

Good picture. I have no idea of the identity of the person to give credit for taking the picture. A steam engine, locomotive, pulling a train across a bridge in an unknown time frame makes a historical picture. Hilma found this picture in an old library book when she was browsing in the Owensboro Public Library. Hilma seemed to think that there could be plenty of stories about this old train and bridge. I am sure there are many stories that can be associated with this particular moment in Rockport history. I will give you one of my stories that should go with the picture. Hope you enjoy.

Well, the picture is identified as "Rockport Bridge Over Green River". The "Steam Engine" was in my time frame and I have come up with several web pages, in the past, on this subject. I just loved those old noisy locomotives and the long train associated with those steam engines. They were something to behold and if one could get up close and personal to the trains, a memory would be etched in one's mind that would forever reside in the brain. I was fortunate to be able to have the ability and the chance to discover these old relics of the past. I am saddened that others will never know the emotions that are presented by just being in the presence of a steam engine. Amazement, awe, elation and joy are only a few states of mind that one would sense and all of those feelings would be replaced by the emotion of fear. The largeness of the steam engine, the heat, the steam and the noise would soon bring a short feeling of fear, which would be suppressed because of the excitement of being near such a monster.

The scene is of Rockport and of the Rockport Railroad Bridge crossing the Green River. The next few paragraphs will contain my opinions and ideas and may not necessarily be factual. I have nothing as a guideline to go by other than the picture and my memory. Thus, if you see something in the following text that you do not think is true or if you remember otherwise, please feel free to let me know.

The view seems to be looking downriver with the photographer being near the old ferry landing on the Rockport side of the river. I would not be surprised if he/she was on the ferry when the picture was taken. A closer look will reveal that if one is looking downriver from the Green River Ferry at Rockport, another bridge should be visible. No highway bridge is visible, thus the picture must have been taken before 1940. The Rockport Highway Bridge was opened for traffic in August of 1940 and the planning and construction probably started in 1938. I can remember my parents telling me that many of the construction workers stayed with local families. A few of the workers boarded with my parents, but only on a "One-At-A-Time" basis as room was limited in the old Jane Russell house. This time frame would have been in 1938-1940 era.

Almost directly beneath the bridge and on the Muhlenberg County side of the river is a floating object, maybe two. The larger one looks like it may be the ferry tug. It was a common practice for the ferry operator/owner to have two separate tugs, just for making sure that the ferry is open and ready to transport. The extra tug is kept operational and will be substituted for the main tug when the main tug needs maintenance. That area would be a good location to keep the spare tug although other pictures that I have seen depicts the tug being upriver from the ferry. The object looks more like a houseboat, maybe a small packet boat that was used to deliver the mail to Rockport and other points upriver. Any ideas?

On the Rockport side of the river, and downriver from the Railroad Bridge is a structure, or structures that take on the features of a barn. This area is where the "Steamboats" tied up and offloaded/loaded passengers and cargo. It is also in the area where the old Rockport Waterworks pump house was located. Remember the old roadbed that existed between the Railroad Bridge and the Highway Bridge. Well, in this time frame of the "Thirties", a railroad spur existed from the railroad bridge to the present location of the highway bridge. Coal was hauled from the Rockport Mines to the main railroad line. In this area of the pump house, there were three structures between this "Railroad Spur" and the river. Two of the three were warehouses, the one on the high bank called the "Upper Warehouse" and the one closer to the river was the "Lower Warehouse". Between these two structures was the "Stock Pens". This "Stock Pens" was used as a holding area for the livestock that was being shipped by steamboat. Further on downriver was a sawmill and below that, the old "Kentucky Rock Asphalt" plant. All of these places of business had railroad access. Hum, seemed to have been a busy time on the Green River. Above the Asphalt Plant was a structure that always amazed me and I never knew, nor do I know now, the purpose of this structure. I have asked and have been told different stories, a few having to do with the asphalt plant. Just above the old roadway was a cylinder structure, maybe fifteen foot in diameter and possible as deep as ten feet, maybe more. It rose above ground level a few feet and always seemed to hold water. By the time that I found the structure, it had filled in somewhat with mostly limbs and logs. It was an ideal place for frogs and thus, snakes. As kids, we have "Fished" for the frogs, gigged them, shot them and tried other means to catch them, all of the time being on the lookout for snakes. Don't ever remember seeing any fish in the basin, but would not be surprised to find out that Cecil McCoy, or others, may have placed a large carp in the basin just to have some fun from us kids when we found the fish. That was just Rockport in the mid part of the twentieth century.

A view of the bridge itself, may cause a second look to some people. Most of us have be around long enough that we have seen that old bridge hundreds of times. But, did we ever really look? Is this bridge picture, a picture of the bridge that we have grown up with? I don't think so. This is the Railroad Bridge at Rockport, but suspect that the picture was made before 1932 and thus would be a picture of the old "Turning Bridge". Notice that the iron work on this bridge is just a little different. The support beams between the bridge top and the bridge bottom are all at an angle and each section forms triangles. There are no vertical sections. The bridge top on the Rockport side is not horizontal, but joins the middle pier side as a slope toward the pier. This would be the design of a "Swinging or a Turning Bridge" vrs. one that is stationery. Notice the placement of the tower on top of the bridge. This tower is for the telegraph lines that parallel each section of railroad track. If this bridge section were raised, the telegraph wires would be torn from the bridge. Thus, I believe that the pictured bridge is a picture of the "Turning Bridge" at Rockport and the picture was made before 1932. The steam engine is also different than what I remember. Some of the picture of the earlier steam engines looked more like the steam engine pictured than the ones that I remember seeing in real life. Any ideas or comments would be appreciated.
;(

Great-Had a comment from Sherry McDowell and it follows.

Bit of info that seems not to be included anywhere...

James Paul Veller 1832-1910 worked for the Illinois Central Railroad as an engineer and was the first engineer to run a locomotive across that Rockport bridge.

Sherry McDowell.

Thanks Sherry. Appreciate your comment and of looking at the web site. You know, it is very possible that Mr. Veller was the engineer in the steam locomotive crossing the Green River in the above picture. It could be.

Thanks for looking. A jrd designed web page on 6/26/08.

Hope you enjoyed the pieces and bits of some information and some ideas.
;-)