Spanning Time: Enduring and beautiful bridges trace city's rich history

Credit: Journal Photo by David Rolfe

Built in 1883, the brick and stone barrel-vaulted bridge that carries Academy Street over Tanner’s Run into Old Salem is one of the oldest surviving bridges in the city.

By: By David Rolfe | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: June 08, 2008

Bridges carry us across the obstacles in our path with such ease that we forget they even exist.

Streams, railroads and chasms fade into the background and escape our notice as we rush about our business. The bridges that level our landscape step back as well, forgotten and taken for granted until they fail spectacularly -- as in the tragic collapse over a bridge across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis last August or, in February 1975, the collapse of the Siloam bridge on the Yadkin River -- or must be closed for repair and force us to struggle through an annoying detour.

But bridges can be enduring public works of beauty, sculpted in graceful curves and vaulting arches, reflecting the power, tastes and ambitions of the times in which they were built.

The Wachovia Historical Society and the City-County Planning Board are about to release a survey of 45 bridges in Winston-Salem. "Spanning the Past" studies selected bridges built within the city limits from 1880 to 1954. Describing the location, structure and condition of each bridge, the study seeks to place the bridges in their historic context with an eye toward their preservation and possible designation as historic structures.

Several of the bridges feature rare or unique elements, stylistic refinements that go well beyond utilitarian necessities and settings that are themselves beautiful.

The 1920s and 1930s saw a surge of bridge-building in the city.

Driven by the powerful engine of successful tobacco and textile empires, Winston-Salem enjoyed a period as the largest city in the state. Growing industries spurred the development of railroads and paved highways to connect local industries to their markets.

The bridges of the Roaring Twenties feature the popular Art Deco design, with graceful curves, recessed decorative panels, and sculpted end posts. Bridges at Akron Drive and Liberty Street feature lamppost obelisks at each end, and the year "1928" is deeply incised in their sides. A bridge on Cameron Avenue stands on fluted columns with flaring caps, the only bridge of its type in North Carolina. The columns stand on the rocky bed of Falling Branch, a lovely setting reminiscent of a mountain stream. The Sprague Street bridge over the tracks of the Winston-Salem Southbound boasts a mix of concrete arches and wrought-iron panels in the side walls.

The city's three oldest bridges are Brookstown at Town Run (1880), Wachovia Street at Tanner's Run (1883) and Academy Street at Tanner's Run (1894). Although relatively small bridges, they are classic brick arches resting on lower walls of native stone. The Wachovia Street bridge nestles at the end of a gorge, with a park bench set along a brick path providing a tranquil spot in the middle of town.

Many of the bridges are suffering from years of neglect and abuse. Challenged by crumbling and flaking concrete and rusting iron reinforcement, and scarred by collisions, many of the bridges suffer the additional insult of vandalism and graffiti. Often standing in declining neighborhoods that have been left behind in the ebb and flow of the city's fortunes, bridges are sometimes the shelter of last resort for those seeking a dry place to sleep among the litter of fast-food wrappers, mangled grocery carts, cardboard scraps and shattered glass bottles.

Looking past the embrace of kudzu and crumbling concrete, however, the pride of a growing city on its way up can still be read in the enduring grace of the bridges of Winston-Salem.