2020 Mayors’ Ride to end at first Gateway to the West
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Our 17th annual National Mayors’ Ride will take place on the bridge that replaced the first gateway to the West (before St Louis), the National Road covered bridge. Dismantled in 1902, here is a rare picture of it from when photography was brand new.
Gone from what was the genuine cradle of the Crossroads of America, soon, I will be able to show you the 55 page chapter for How Indianapolis Built America I have written that has made very clear to me why the Indianapolis riverfront, as led by this vaporized bridge, was so important to the building of both Indianapolis and the frontier on the other side of the White River…
In this 1866 map of Marion County, registered at the Library of Congress, one can see that what was called Washington Ave, ran on an angle to just south of where Market St, from the State Capitol would have ended had it been built to reach the White River (note also the artistic liberty of placing a steamboat in the unnavigable waters). It seems very likely that this location was chosen because this was where the river was the narrowest. Where the National Road Bridge left the eastern shore of the White River, today, is close to where the NCAA headquarters is located.
The two bridges co-existed from 1870 until 1902 with the National Road Bridge functioning as a toll bridge and seeing less and less use until the time came to widen the Washington St Bridge and dismantle to National Road Bridge.
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