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Rev. Joey N. Welsh: A birthday appreciation of an old friend Another Angle. A Birthday Appreciation of an old friend, The Roebling Bridge over the Ohio River.. was first published 7 January 2007 in the Hart County News-Herald To see other articles by this author, enter "Rev. Joey N. Welsh," or "Another Angle," in the searchbox. The next earlier essay posted on ColumbiaMagazine.com is An ethics quiz and a reality quiz by The Rev. Joey N. Welsh Editorial note: This column references January 1, 2007, and years have not been updated. The Roebling Bridge over the Ohio was reopened after renovations in 2007 but closed during much of 2008 for repainting. RHS I generally think of birthdays as festive and happy occasions, but in the biblical record birthday celebrations are not always completely joyful. In Genesis 40-41 we read that Pharaoh imprisoned his cupbearer and his baker after becoming angry with them. While confined they encounter another prisoner, Joseph, who interprets their dreams that they both find so perplexing, telling Pharaoh's cupbearer that he will be restored to his position and informing the baker that he will be executed. Later during Pharaoh's birthday banquet, the cupbearer and baker are both brought out of prison and Joseph's interpretations come to pass. The cupbearer assumes his former position, while the baker is hanged. Joseph, in the meantime, languishes in prison for another couple of years until Pharaoh needs to have some of his own dreams interpreted and the cupbearer recommends Joseph for the task, the beginning of Joseph's rise to a position of influence in the royal court. Both Matthew 14 and Mark 6 record a birthday banquet for Herod, whose rash promise to the daughter of Herodias leads to the beheading of John the Baptist. I've attended many birthday parties, but none as eventful (or violent) as those thrown for Pharaoh and Herod. New Year's Day 2007 did mark the birthday of a familiar old friend, now 140 years old but still quite robust and currently undergoing an extreme makeover. This past week marked the anniversary of the ceremonial opening of the Roebling suspension bridge linking Covington, Kentucky with Cincinnati, Ohio. Though the bridge had begun to carry foot traffic in December, 1866, it was dedicated formally on January 1, 1867. At the time it was the world's longest suspension bridge, a title it held until it was superseded by the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. Engineered by architect John Augustus Roebling (1806-1869), the bridge was constructed after the suspension bridge at Wheeling, Virginia (dating before West Virginia separated from its mother state) and just before work began on the Brooklyn Bridge. All three of these pioneering bridges were designed by Roebling, and all three were the longest suspension bridges of their times. (The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge was overseen by Roebling's son, Washington Roebling, after John's death following injuries sustained in an accident, but the vision and design were John's.) Born in Germany, Roebling had come to the United States in 1831. He soon became admired for his innovative and attractive designs that were built to endure. He was a natural choice for building the bridge at Covington; the original requirements for the bridge were both that its road deck should be higher than the smokestacks of steamboats and that the bridge piers could not impede navigation channels. This would require a bridge span that would be higher and longer than anything anywhere on the Ohio River at mid-19th century. The bridge at Covington took a decade to complete; complexities caused by the Civil War slowed its financing and complicated the logistics of getting materials to the construction site. The original roadbed of the bridge was less sturdy than Roebling's design envisioned because of wartime privations, and within 30 years the bridge was strengthened with a heavy steel deck and supporting framework. (This new metalwork was painted blue, and for decades some folks have referred to the structure as "the blue bridge.") The bridge had no problem bearing the added weight of this new construction, because the massive stone bridge towers were built sturdy enough to carry many times their originally intended burden. The bridge is now (2007) closed for remodeling, maintenance, and repainting. It will reopen later in 2007, prepared to carry traffic for many decades to come. As I said, I consider the bridge to be an old friend. It is my preferred way to cross the Ohio River in the Metro Cincinnati area. I'll be glad when the bridge (which, I gather, will be bright blue no longer) is open once again. Poet Marianne Moore, an admirer of Roebling, his vision and his work, wrote of the Brooklyn Bridge in her poem "Granite and Steel," but her thoughts could just as well apply to our own John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge at Covington. The poem appeared first in The New Yorker in 1966 and was published later that year (in somewhat altered form) in a compilation of Moore's work. She wrote, in part: "...Untried expedient, untried; then tried;Happy birthday to an old friend, 140 years old and still as solid and dependable as ever! E-mail: joey_n_welsh@hotmail.com This story was posted on 2010-03-14 05:13:18
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Sadly, KY loses to TN on verbal efficiency, re: regions Diner News from Jamestown - Politicians And Fishermen . . . Diner News: Election Talk Creeping Into Conversations . . . Rev. Joey N. Welsh: Forty can be a very good number Adair Countians urged to observe Earth Hour on March 27, 2010 Economic Gardening can work in Columbia-Adair Co., KY Rev. Joey N. Welsh: On the Poetry of Emily Dickinson Everybody can participate in the Backyard Bird count Rev. Joey N. Welsh: Recalling Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer Rev. Joey N. Welsh: Black History Month, some sports history View even more articles in topic Commentary |
 
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