Welcome to Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge

Welcome to Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge. Downtown Roanoke. , Built in 1892 by the Norfolk and Western Railway, the First Street Bridge connects downtown Roanoke with the Gainsboro Neighborhood north of the tracks. Originally chartered as the Town of Gainesborough in 1835, the community developed as the predominantly AFrican American neighborhood of Gainsboro by the 1920s. The bridge, also known as the Henry Street Bridge, served as a physical divide in a racially-segregated society. Faced with the constraints of Jim Crow laws, the Black community developed its own businesses, institutions, services, and leaders with Henry Street serving as its commercial and entertainment cneter. Following desegregation in the 1960s, urban renewal destroyed much of the Gainsboro neighborhood. Both Henry Street and Gainsboro are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places., The Warren Pony Truss Bridge consists of five spans resting on two bends, two stone piers and stone abutments. The bridge was repaired in 1953 and modified in 1990 to accommodate double-deck rail cars. After closing the steep and narrow vehicular bridge in 2000, the City renovated it as a pedestrian bridge in 2007. The bridge was dedicated as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Bridge in 2008 with a statue of the Civil Rights leader in a plaza at the North end where excerpts of his speeches can be heard. The bridge is the last surviving iron truss bridge over the railroad in the City of Roanoke.