As with so many American dreams, it was a big oneConstruction of a Mississippi River bridge at Louisiana and an accompanying highway would link the Midwest with the coasts.

Backers understood the project would be a defining milestone for a community that had relied since its founding in 1818 mostly upon barges and railroads for major transportation needs.

As a new era dawned, the nation’s love affair with automobiles created demand for new infrastructure.

But by the quarter-century mark, there were still no designated highway bridges between St. Louis and Keokuk, Iowa.

Quincy would not begin construction of Memorial Bridge until 1928. Vehicles could cross at Hannibal, but only on the Wabash railroad bridge – an impractical method that wouldn’t be abandoned until Mark Twain Memorial Bridge opened in 1936.

So, Louisiana caught the eye of people from around the country as it stood at the forefront of high-tech advancement during a decade in which nothing seemed impossible, and just about everyone recognized it.

“No event in the history of Pike Co. since its founding means more to the county and that section of the state than the erection of this bridge,” Congressman Clarence Cannon of Elsberry declared in a letter dated April 23, 1926. “It makes Pike County one of the high points in…one of the great trans-continental highways of the nation.”

“It behooves Louisiana people to boost the promoters and help make this great ‘bridge dream’ come true,” the Louisiana Press-Journal urged. “Other cities no larger than Louisiana have built bridges and we will venture the assertion that no town was ever more favorably situated than is Louisiana.”

When the first cars rolled across the completed structure on Saturday, May 12, 1928 – 90 years ago – none of the drivers were probably thinking about the tremendous effort that had led to the moment.

A vision is born

Railroad trestles that could be used by horse-drawn carriages and early motorized vehicles had been in place at Louisiana since 1873.

But the quest to traverse the river by highway had gone nowhere in the half-century that followed.

Louisiana businessman Lloyd Crow Stark complained in 1923 that bridge discussions had been “all talk.” Of course, as top executive of the family nursery founded in 1816, he had the power to act.

Stark would quickly become the project’s leading cheerleader, and the man who more than just about any other broke down invisible walls of separation between Pike County communities and two states.

Stark knew that before a bridge could be built, it had to be funded. And before that could happen, the project had to have widespread support.

The vision began to take shape in December 1925, when Stark and others formed the Pike County Chamber of Commerce. The first meeting was held in Clarksville, with later get-togethers in other communities. The Louisiana Press-Journal hailed the first event as a “wonderful representative gathering of citizens of Imperial Pike County.”

Stark made it his mission to convince everyone on both sides of the river to support the effort. State officials from Missouri and Illinois jumped on the bandwagon, promising to upgrade highways if Louisiana built its bridge.

Stark’s campaign also worked outside of Jefferson City and Springfield. In early January 1926, the topic at a meeting of the Louisiana Rotary Club was listed simply as “roads.” A few days later, the Chamber of Commerce heard the same message.

“It is no longer a dream to see a paved ocean to ocean highway through the city of Louisiana,” the Press-Journal reported.  “It is well along on the way of being an accomplished fact.”

Stark also was president of the Louisiana Chamber, and used his speech at the group’s annual meeting in February 1926 to hammer home the message of regional unity.

“We have been living in a half-circle,” he noted. “We want to expand and spread out until we are living in a whole circle.”

The timing was perfect because progress seemed to be taking shape everywhere.

Louisiana was planning construction of a hospital and would soon finish paving all of its streets. A $25,000 contract had just been awarded to build a Champ Clark statue in Bowling Green. Pike County Commissioners voted to end toll roads.

In March 1926, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill by Cannon to authorize construction of a five-span truss. It quickly passed the Senate and was signed by President Calvin Coolidge.

Back in Louisiana, two cigars cost 15 cents, ladies’ high heels were on sale for $6.50 and the silent films “Excuse Me” and “Heart of a Siren” were playing at the Star Theater.

At a regional conference in May 1926, delegates from Illinois and Missouri were impressed that Louisiana was moving forward.

That same month, Stark thanked Cannon in a letter in which he called the legislator a “man who goes out and ‘gets the bacon’ and doesn’t play the old game of passing the buck.”

Foresight is key

As to be expected from such a successful businessman, Stark was meticulous and astute.

He and other bridge enthusiasts did their homework, consulting with   some of America’s best authorities on finance, engineering, design and traffic flow.

In an era when the first interstates were still almost three decades away, the Press-Journal played up that the “shortest route from New York to San Francisco passed through Louisiana.”

On June 7, 1926, backers met with bankers in St. Louis to work out a funding plan to cover the estimated $1 million cost. At the time, Missouri and Illinois financed highways, but many bridges were paid for privately.

The meeting went well and it was agreed that construction would be covered by bond sales, with tolls from motorists used to pay off the debt.

Later that month, soundings were done to find the best places for bridge supports. At least one homeowner would be displaced. George Penrod’s riverfront cabin was in the path of what would be the first pier.

The Missouri-Illinois Bridge Company was formed to oversee contractors, with Stark as the president and La Crosse Lumber executive Charles Gustavus Buffum as vice president.

It took just five days for Pike County to raise its $125,000 share for the bond campaign – almost $1.7 million today.

“Once a county divided against itself, Pike county (sic) can now point to many things it has been able to accomplish by uniting,” the Press-Journal wrote in August 1926.

Preparations got going in early September and lower-than-expected bids were opened Oct. 5.

Design was handled by Harrington, Howard & Ash of Kansas City. The substructure work went to Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron of Leavenworth, Kan. The superstructure would be handled by Wisconsin Bridge & Iron of Milwaukee, and E.C. Johnson of Carrolton, Mo., would oversee grading and paving. They wasted little time, with work starting full speed in late October.

In November – the same month as dedication of the Champ Clark statue in Bowling Green – word came that the highway crossing the bridge would be named U.S. 54. The announcement featured a map that highlighted U.S. 54, called the “Lindbergh Way” in honor of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh.

“This map also shows that the Louisiana Bridge route is the most direct route between Kansas City and Chicago and points beyond both places,” the Press-Journal said.

The newspaper couldn’t help but note that 1926 had been a very good year. “What city the size of Louisiana can boast a grander record of achievement within a period of a simple year than this?” it said on Dec. 14.

Unfortunately, tragedy would strike in 1927.