The Nashville Bridge Company’s office is visible on the right bank of the Cumberland River and railroad tracks are seen in the foreground. A Louisville and Nashville Railroad bridge is noticeable in the distance. The Sparkman Street Bridge was completed in 1909, spanning the Cumberland River to link East Nashville to Downtown. At completion, the bridge was hailed as the “finest highway bridge south of the Ohio River.” Construction of the bridge was considered innovative. Concrete trusses created a new underneath support system in order to take the bridge across the railroad tracks on the river’s west bank. In 1986, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2003, the bridge reopened after five years as a pedestrian walkway.
