Lot 82
The Magnificent Steel Bridge Across The Mississippi at Thebes, Illinois used by all trains of the Cotton Belt Route. It is in the original frame with stats on the bridge. Henry Stark was a St. Louis, MO. Photographer. Henry Stark, documentary photographer, was probably the son of Henry and Eva Stark and was probably born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1895 he came to Texas and during the winter traveled throughout the state taking photographs. He is believed to be the first photographer to have made an extensive photographic record of Texas. In 1896 many of Stark's Texas photographs appeared in The Texarkana Gateway to Texas and the Southwest, printed by the Woodward and Tiernan Printing Company of St. Louis and issued jointly by the Iron Mountain Route, the Cotton Belt Route, the Texas and Pacific Railway, and the International-Great Northern Railroad. Stark later assembled an album of 255 of his Texas photographs with legends and labeled it "Views in Texas. These Photographs Were Made in the Winter of 189596 by Henry Stark, St. Louis, Mo." The only extant exemplar of this album is today housed at the Dallas Historical Society. A selection of photographs from Stark's album, with a historical commentary by A. C. Greene, was published in 1974 as Views In Texas, 189596. A photographer named Stark is credited for the photographs in another 1896 publication printed by Woodward and Tiernan, Views on the Mississippi Between St. Louis and New Orleans, Taken from an Anchor Line Steamer, September, 1896. Henry Stark is credited as the photographer for the company's 1898 publication, The Heart of the South: Along the Line of the Atlanta and West Point Railroad and Western Railway of Alabama. Henry Stark was probably the brother of George Stark (ca. 18711946), a native of St. Louis and the first photographer to work for the St. Louis Globe Democrat. THEBES BRIDGE: Thebes was a choke point for rail traffic heading south out of Chicago. The Cotton Belt operated a ferry service that took entire trains across the river. Despite the addition of a second ferry, the ferry service was not able to keep up with traffic demands. As a result, a group of five local railroads pooled their efforts to build a permanent bridge. The Thebes rail bridge was designed by famous bridge builder Ralph Modjeski. The bridge was built very strong given that the structure was designed to carry two tracks, which could see two trains crossing the river at the same time. In addition, it was envisioned that auto traffic would become more popular. The bridge design included provisions to add a car deck at some point in the future. As it turns out, the auto deck was never added. Due to this extra strength, the Thebes rail bridge is known as the strongest bridge to span the Mississippi River. We describe all items to the best of our ability as we are not experts on everything. Please ask specific questions on details or condition prior to bidding, ALL ITEMS ARE SOLD AS IS. We box and ship to keep costs low. We do not use a packaging service, unless the costumer prefers us to use them. We can ship either USPS or UPS
- Dimensions: 8" x 36" and
- Condition: Very Good Condition
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