A Tale of Two Bridges

Rock Springs Park owes its birth and death to two different bridges which spanned the Ohio River from East Liverpool to Chester, WV over the course of a century.


1. The Chester Bridge (1897 – 1969)

It was no mere coincidence that the Chester trolley line ended at the entrance to Rock Springs Park. Trolley companies around the country started building amusement parks at the end of their lines to build ridership and increase profits on weekends.

In 1890, East Liverpool attorney James (J.E.) McDonald purchased 170 acres of the Marks estate with a plan to commercialize the spring grove by building a local amusement park in conjunction with a new bridge project and street car line. Despite several setbacks, work on the bridge and park began in 1895.

The 1,466 foot Chester Bridge was completed in just over a year and the trolley had its first run on May 26, 1897. Three days later, on Memorial Day 1897, Rock Springs Park had its official opening, where more than 5000 jammed the dance pavilion, café, dining hall, shooting gallery, bowling alleys, walked the shady paths or watched a ballgame.

The bridge, the new town of Chester and the park were all part of J.E. McDonald’s plan to open up the south side of East Liverpool to investors and future home and business owners. A 1905 brochure explained, "A long graceful suspension bridge binds East Liverpool to Chester. Improvements in the course of its erection include street paving, street cars, and the beautiful Rock Springs Park."

Rock Springs Park owner, C.A. Smith purchased the Chester Bridge in 1901. The trolley line was discontinued in 1937 and Smith sold the bridge the following year to the State of Ohio for $2,185,000.

Smith made “Ripley's Believe It Or Not” in 1935 when the bridge was rebuilt without stopping traffic.

“Under Smith,” according to Roy C. Cashdollar, “the bridge was very prosperous with it being a vital part of the highway system known as the Lincoln Highway - U.S. Route 30 with thousands of autos traveling it. It was reported that it brought an approximate $360,000 in proceeds the last year of private ownership. The state of Ohio continued it as a toll bridge until June of 1951, when passage between Chester and East Liverpool became free. In 1969, it was closed by the State of Ohio as it was considered unsafe for use.”

For eight years Chester and East Liverpool had no direct connection. The closest passage was across the privately owned toll-bridge at Newell. But meanwhile plans were made and several sites considered for a new safer truss bridge to be constructed. Eventually it was decided that Route 30 entering Chester from Pennsylvania to the southeast could be widened into lands owned by Rock Springs Park and the new bridge crossing over Carolina Avenue into Chester could touch down near the park’s midway.


2. The Jennings Randolph Bridge (1977 – present)

(Courtesy of Rob Morrow)

The Youngstown Vindicator reported on the grand opening of the new bridge on November 8, 1977. “For the first time in eight years, there is now a direct link between East Liverpool and Chester, W. Va. A new, $26-million, four-lane bridge was dedicated here Monday”

The dedication ceremony included governors, mayors and the bridge’s namesake West Virginia State Senator Jennings Randolph. "A crowd of 2,000 witnessed the rain-shortened ceremonies held on one of the approach ramps leading to the superstructure. Musical selections were played by the East Liverpool High School Band and the Oak Glen High School Band near Chester."

In all the fanfare no mention is given in the Vindicator article about the loss of Rock Springs Park. However it does mention the old bridge. “The new bridge replaces the old Chester Bridge, a two-lane structure built in 1989 and determined to be unsafe for vehicle traffic in 1968. A deteriorated support cable on the Ohio side was blamed for the closing of the bridge to all traffic on May 14, 1969. The bridge was demolished a year later."

Many area bridges were closely inspected in 1968 following the collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, WV a year earlier. The Chester Bridge was mentioned by name in an article which appeared in the Pittsburgh Press a week after the tragedy which took 46 lives. “Ohio Highway Director P.E. Masheter ordered an ‘immediate’ inspection of three Ohio River bridges owned by the state. These are the Pomeroy Bridge, which drew heavy traffic in the wake of the collapse of the Silver Bridge; the Fort Steuben Bridge at Steubenville, and the Chester Bridge at East Liverpool.”

A 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies, claimed that Mothman was related to a wide array of supernatural events in the area including the collapse of the Silver Bridge. The 2002 film starring Richard Gere was based on the book.

Stakes Through the Heart

The Midway of Rock Springs Park with the Fish Pond Game, Carport, Dodgem Cars and the Log House.

(Courtesy of Richard Bowker)

The same view with the Log House gone; moved by crane approximately 100 yards to the west. Only the foundations of the other buildings remain.

 (Courtesy of Rich Brookes, Photographed by Clarence O. Durbin)

The images above show the midway of Rock Springs Park. The first taken in 1970, the park’s final season, and the second in 1974, after the park had been sold to the state of West Virginia and the buildings and rides auctioned off to the highest bidder. The flagged stakes in the center and running through the heart of the midway show where the highway approach to the new bridge (pictured in the background below) would run. Travelers entering Chester, WV, along Route 30 today most likely have no idea that beneath their spinning wheels rests the remains of the onetime “Showcase of the East.” (Click on images to enlarge.)

The Midway in 1974 looking in the opposite direction toward Ohio and the recently erected truss of the Jennings Randolph Bridge. The Carousel Pavilion (left) was the last structure to be razed.

(Courtesy of Rich Brookes, Photographed by Clarence O. Durbin)

See more photographs of the park in the waning years in Images of America: Rock Springs Park, Chapter 6, "The Long Farewell: 1971 - 1974."



Highway Stake

On page 117 of Images of America: Rock Springs Park I wrote, "In 1974 the lower picnic area was being flagged to mark the route of the new highway approach to the Jennings Randolph Bridge. Many felt that the new path of Route 30 and the approach to the bridge could have been restricted to this lower park corridor, however, planners and engineers chose to curve the highway toward the west, effectively eliminating all but a small section of the upper park."

But just how far to the west does the highway run? The image above marks the spot were the western edge of the proposed highway was drawn.
In this second photograph (above) one can see the stake which marks this spot. This area was on the southern edge of the final turn of the Cyclone roller coaster between Virginia Gardens and the office at the northern end of the midway in the upper park.
Today this spot is part of the south bound lane of Route 30 just off the Jennings Randolph Bridge as drivers enter West Virginia from Ohio. (Courtesy of Rob Morrow)

Hey, That’s My Car!

Just days before my book deadline in early December 2009, I learned of Rich Brookes and a set of postcard proofs he had in his possession which showed the very early days of Rock Springs Park. I called ahead and stopped by his workplace, Pottery City Antiques in East Liverpool. The proofs were black and white photographs of images I recognized from antique postcards of the park. It was interesting to see the original images which through various artisits techniques became some of the same postcard images I was planning to use in the book, but I was really looking for more pictures of Rock Springs Park's later years.

Rich did not disappoint. He said he also had a book of photo negatives at home that was given to him by Ira Sayre. Ira, as I explain in the book, had a large collection of photographs and postcards of the park. He took many pictures of the park himself but also collected works from some of the older photographers in the area, including Clarence Durbin. Ira used to give slide show talks, and although I never saw one in person, I did see a video of one he gave outside in summer.

When I met Rich later and saw his book of negatives I was truly regretting that I could not use any of them as my deadline was just days away. I drove back to Greensburg and thought about them all the way home. I decided to call my editor to see if I could get an extension. Clarence's photographs, especially the ones of the Cyclone taken a year after the park closed, needed to be shared in the book. Fortunately, I was given ten days and returned to Chester the following week.

Rich was gracious enough to let me take the book back home and gave me as much time as I needed to have the proofs developed. The book was like a family Bible that had been passed down from the original owner to several others before Ira gave it to Rich. I felt privileged to have it, even if it was just for a short time. Each owner's name was written on the inside cover. The original owner and photographer was Clarence Durbin of Chester. He had taken the photographs over the course of seven years (1968 – 1974).

The book was organized in such a way that he could show potential customers the tiny proofs and they could choose from the numbered collection and place an order. Behind each proof was a small hand-folded envelope containing the negative. Most were labeled with the subjects name and the year, which made my job a lot easier.

I gave all of the negatives to a local photographer and she was able to develop about two-thirds of them. They were, after all, 40 years old. While some came out with tiny scratches that look like hair or fibers, most were as clear as if they were taken yesterday.

I scanned the ones I wanted for the book and made two sets of CDs of the rest: one for my family and one for Rich. It took a couple months before I was able to get the collection back to East Liverpool. (Those in the area will remeber 2010 was the worst winter we’ve had since 1978, as far as snow accumulation is concerned.) Eventually, I made it back and Rich and I sat in the backroom of the antique mall and reviewed all of the CD images on my laptop. He was impressed with their quality and grateful to see them finally enlarged.

Rich recognized a lot of the faces in the park and I noticed he took extra time examining many of the scenes along Carolina Avenue taken from the park. When he saw the image above of the Jennings Randolph Bridge under construction, he laughed in surprise and said, “Hey, that’s my car! That’s my Volkswagen” He didn't mean it was a VW Bug like his. He meant the car in the photo was his! Weird, huh?

I had been researching the park and collecting digital images for five years prior to the book's publication. Writing a picture history was not on my radar until Kassy Hand, granddaughter of Bob and Virginia Hand, suggested it on this blog several years ago. The coincidence with Rich seeing his car under the bridge was one of dozens of unusual coincidences which have led me to think that the timing of the book and the events leading up to it were somehow in bigger hands than my own.

I heard about Rich and his collection because Bill Gray of ELO saw an article about my visit with Dick Bowker to the Lou Hotz Museum in the fall of 2009. Bill is an author and collector himself and appears in the final chapter of my book. He came to a book talk I gave at Fox’s Nursing home and invited me to see his collection. Afterwards, he set up the meeting with Rich.

I am now learning that some of the people who shared their stories and collections with me are at this time too ill to have helped me had a waited a year or two to write the book and still others have since passed. Everything seems to have fallen into place just so. Had I waited even a few months I may not have been able to do the book at all.

My editor kidded me about the length of my acknowledgements. She said normally an author will thank one or two people. I chose to thank everyone who gave me even the slightest bit of help along the way as well as those whose work on the park’s history preceded mine. I would like to end today's blog post by thanking all those people again. It has been a wonderful ride! "Punch Buggy!"


Read the "Punch Buggy" rules here.

Chester Bridge Overlook

I was saddened to read that the Chester Overlook, now the Dr. David S. Pugh Memorial Overlook, has been vandalized since it reopened last year. (Read more here.) The overlook began as the southern portal of the original Chester Bridge built to connect East Liverpool with the new town of Chester in 1897. Just three days after its inauguration, a trolley carried people from Liverpool to the grand opening of Rock Springs Park on Memorial Day 1897.



The photograph above shows the Overlook as I remember seeing it during my childhood. Below, the outline reveals where a toll booth once stood before my time.


Ironically, the photograph below, from the Review’s article, reveals the Jennings Randolph Bridge in the background through the gap created when vandals “pried up large stone blocks from the top of the wall and tossed them into the river.” The original Chester Bridge marked the beginning of the life of Rock Springs Amusement Park while the truss bridge in the distance marked its end. (Photo by Nancy Tullis of the East Liverpool Review)