The Upper Greenville Bridge, 1906-1947

The Upper Greenville Bridge, 1906-1947. Greenville Recreation Area. During the 19th century, high water on the St. Francis River was often an obstacle to travel through Wayne County. Here at Old Greenville, the river cold be safely forded in two places during periods of normal stream flow, but when the river was up, it became dangerous to cross. A ferry operated at the road crossing below town, but it too was unsafe when the river was running high., The need for river bridges was partly solved in 1899, when the county joined the Williamsville Greenville and St. Louis Railroad and helped rebuild their bridge below Old Greenville with a dual-use bridge deck that allowed both rail and wagon traffic to cross., Then in 1905, Wayne County contracted four road bridges over the St. Francis River: the Black Bridge near Patterson, the Chaonia Bridge, the Mill Spring Bridge and the Upper Greenville Bridge on the Greenville-Patterson Road at "Leeper's Ford.", The "Upper Greenville Bridge" was a one-lane, wooden-decked wagon bridge with a 200' Parker Truss main span, supported by concrete filled tubular steel piers. It was designed and built by J.P. Morgan's American Bridge Co., at a cost of $3,499 and opened to traffic in 1906., By the 1930s, this bridge had become obsolete. It was condemned by the county in 1935, but continued to be used. In 1947, Wayne County settled with the Corps for the cost of the county's roads and bridges lost to Wappapello Lake and this bridge was then removed. The eastern abutment and western piers are all that remain.