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Posted May 22, 2002
Revised June 11, 2004
Revised September 15, 2007
 In the mid 1800s, a
railroad was being constructed from Paris through Clarksville, TN.
The last link of this railroad was completed with the construction of the
bridge over the Tennessee River in April, 1861 - over 140 years ago.
The railroad bridge was located in the community of Danville, about two
miles west of McKinnon, TN, in Houston County.
According to records at the
Houston County Library, a new bridge was constructed 70 years after the
original one in 1931. Seven years later, in 1938, the Kentucky Dam
project was begun which would flood the Tennessee River. This meant
that the bridge and railroad levee had to be elevated, relocated, or both.
You can see the old railroad bed under the water in the photo at right.
The existing railroad bridge was elevated as was the levee. The
bridge you see in the photos below is the 1931 bridge.
 In
1985, the Seaboard System, which owned the railroad, suspended operations.
A year later, the railroad tracks were dismantled and taken up.
While we are still researching, we do not know why the entire old bridge
was not taken down. It appears that only the portion of the Houston
County Railroad Bridge that crosses the Tennessee River channel was taken
down.
The remains of the 70
year-old bridge is still there. We are continuing to research this
and will revise our findings. If you can provide any information,
please contact us!
(April 16, 2004) Update: We
received this e-mail from J. H. Sullivan regarding the missing span and
other details.
"I believe I can supply some information.
When the L&N line across Kentucky Lake was abandoned, the bridge, of
course became redundant. It was however, a relatively new structure as
bridges go, and more important, the main channel was a vertical lift
span sufficiently high enough, when open to clear any inland waterway
movement.
"Shortly after the abandonment, it was
decided to replace the swing span at BridgePort, AL because the
mechanism was worn out, and the bridge had been damaged by more than one
collision with it, as well as lightning having damaged the control
systems.
"The Main span from Paris was floated by
barge upriver to BridgePort, and reinstalled there. This occurred, as I
recall now, some 30-35 years ago. Since it is expensive to remove steel
bridges over water, and the remaining spans do not pose a navigation
hazard, they have been left in place. I don't know who presently owns
the remaining bridge structure, but sometimes a railroad will keep such
structures in inventory against the possibility of using them to replace
a damaged span elsewhere."
(June 11, 2004) Note: Another e-mail recently sent to
ExploreKentuckyLake.com suggested that the center span was removed
between 20 and 25 years ago.
(October, 2006) Our
sister print publication,
Four Rivers Explorer, recently did an article on the bridge.
It has now been sold to a private individual and the bridge and
right-of-way extending into the lake is privately owned.
(September 15, 2007) Update:
An email from Dennis Lambert from Alabama sent in this photo of the CSX
railroad bridge in Bridgeport, Ala. This vertical-lift span was
the one being used at the Houston Co. bridge until 1981. The photo
below is from 1990.
Other photos from 2002:
Click here
to see the bridge from the air.
Some information courtesy
Ira
Lea Bell & The Houston Co. Library
Aerial photo courtesy US Geological Survey
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