The Great Cooper River Bridge

By Jason Annan and Pamela Gabriel

A comprehensive history of one of Charleston's most significant landmarks

On a hot summer day in 1929, the citizens of Charleston, South Carolina, participated in one of the largest celebrations in the city's history—the opening of the Cooper River Bridge. After years of quarrels, financial obstructions, and political dogfights, the great bridge was completed, and for the first time, Charleston had a direct link to the north. From the doldrums of the Depression to the growth of the 1990s, the Cooper River Bridge played a vital role in Charleston's transformation from an impoverished, isolated city to a vibrant and prosperous metropolis.

Now obsolete and no longer adequately serving the needs of the Charleston area, the "old" Cooper River Bridge, and the "new" Silas N. Pearman Bridge—the Cooper River Bridge's larger sister structure, erected in 1966—will be replaced. Funding, design, and construction are presently underway to replace the old structure with a single, modern bridge. The two original bridges have become true emblems of Charleston, much like the Eiffel Tower of Paris or the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco. With their removal, Charleston will lose two of its most significant landmarks.

This vast change in the city's skyline is sure to evoke memories from Charlestonians and visitors who have developed a special relationship with the old bridge. In addition to these reminiscences, the Cooper River Bridge has its own story—one of ambitious men and their dreams of profit, and of a city's dreams of prosperity. Upon its completion, the Cooper River Bridge was a grand symbol of Charleston's vision for the future, and the bridge recalls many significant themes in the modern history of the city.

The Great Cooper River Bridge provides the complete history of this architectural icon, exploring how early twentieth-century Charleston helped shape the bridge, and how the bridge subsequently shaped the city. With more than eighty photographs, this illustrated volume documents a remarkable engineering feat and a distinctive structure before it becomes a memory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Release date: May 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643361291

Book preview

The Great

  COOPER RIVER BRIDGE

The Great

COOPER RIVER BRIDGE

JASON ANNAN and PAMELA GABRIEL

University of South Carolina Press

© 2002 University of South Carolina

Hardback edition published by the University of South Carolina Press, 2002 Ebook edition published in Columbia, South Carolina, by the University of South Carolina Press, 2020

www.uscpress.com

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardback edition as follows:

Annan, Jason, 1974–

The great Cooper River Bridge / Jason Annan and Pamela Gabriel.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 1-57003-470-2 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. John P. Grace Memorial Bridge (Charleston, S.C.) I. Gabriel, Pamela, 1944– . II. Title.

TG25.C36A56 2002

388.1’32’09757915—dc21 2002012312

ISBN 978-1-57003-470-1 (hardback)

ISBN 978-1-64336-129-1 (ebook)

Front cover photograph courtesy of the Charleston County Library

To Our Families

CONTENTS

Illustrations and Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One

The Dream

The First Bridge: The Ashley River Bridge

The Coney Island of the South

Sullivan’s Island

New Owners, New Dreams

Chapter Two

Change Comes to Charleston

The Naval Base and Tourism

The Great Debate: A Private or Public Bridge

Chapter Three

John Patrick Grace

Charleston Roots

Grace in Public Life

The Burden of a Lawyer

Chapter Four

Building the Bridge

Selecting a Location

Waddell and Hardesty, Bridge Engineers

Selecting a Bridge Design

A Cantilevered Truss

The Bridge Is Built

Tragedy Strikes

Construction of the Superstructure

The Completed Bridge

Chapter Five

Hope and Despair

The Great Cooper River Bridge Is Opened

The Hopes of the ’20s, the Reality of the ’30s

Purchase and Repurchase

The Bridge Is Free

Chapter six

The Bridge Comes of Age

The Nicaragua Victory and Tragedy

Growth of East Cooper

Mishaps and Memories

The New Cooper River Bridge

The Bridge Run

The End of the Bridges

Epilogue

Appendix

Notes

Bibliography

Index

ILLUSTRATIONS AND TABLES

The Great Cooper River Bridge, Charleston, S.C. /

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing the story of the Great Cooper River Bridge has been an extremely long but satisfying undertaking. We thank all of our family and friends for their support of this project. We especially thank Harlan Greene and the staff of the South Carolina Room of the Charleston County Library for all their assistance in researching this book; without their support this project may never have been finalized. We also recognize the countless people whose enthusiasm and encouragement towards this project spurred us on. Thank you—and we hope this story gives you the pleasure it has given us in its telling.

INTRODUCTION

More than seventy years ago, the skyline of Charleston, South Carolina, was dramatically altered by the construction of the Cooper River Bridge, a tall, spiny, ribbon of a bridge that spans the Charleston harbor. The Cooper River Bridge played a vital role in Charleston’s transformation from a poor, deteriorating city into a vibrant and prosperous metropolis. The size and the character of Charleston and its suburbs have changed considerably since the bridge was opened in 1929, and the Cooper River Bridge no longer adequately serves the needs of the growing Charleston area. The structure is old and obsolete, and it has received the dubious honor of being cited as one of the most unsafe bridges in South Carolina. The bridge, along with its larger sister structure, the Silas N. Pearman Bridge, erected in 1966, will be replaced. However, over the years, Charlestonians have become accustomed to the Cooper River Bridge. Once it is removed Charleston will lose one of its most significant landmarks.

In 1949, New York architecture critic Elizabeth Mock awarded the Cooper River Bridge the epithet of the most spectacular bridge in the world. She wrote, Steep approaches, stupendous height, extremely narrow width, and a sharp curve at the dip conspire to excite and alarm the motorist, even while his changing perspective of the second span gives … multiple awareness of the structure that is hurling … through space. Perhaps all bridges should be bent at the middle so that no one might traverse them unaware.¹ The bridge’s distinctive silhouette appears on souvenirs, postcards, and shirts; its form is used in corporate logos and on official publications. Though it is a relatively new addition to centuries-old Charleston, the Cooper River Bridge has become an icon of the city, much like the Eiffel Tower is to Paris or the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco.

The impact of the Cooper River Bridge on Charleston’s modern history has been profound. More than three generations of Charlestonians have grown up under the steel rainbow of the Cooper River Bridge, oblivious of a time when crossing the harbor by ferry was an ordeal stymied by storms, fogs, and tides. The bridge funneled hundreds of young families into the booming suburbs east of the Cooper River and played a significant role in shaping that region’s growth. Thousands of tourists received their first glimpse of the historic city of Charleston from atop the bridge’s lofty spans. The bridge witnessed the arrival of countless vessels at the nearby naval base, and it bid a silent goodbye as the ships and their crews departed the base forever when the shipyard was decommissioned in the mid-1990s. Even today the bridge continues to enrich the wonderful texture of Charleston.

The Cooper River Bridge was opened in 1929, but the complete history of the bridge began much earlier. Quite unexpectedly, the story of the bridge started at the beach. The early efforts to finance and build a bridge were wed to the history of the Isle of Palms. By 1900, the Isle of Palms was a popular beach retreat for working and middle-class Charlestonians. The owners of the resort realized that the limited capabilities of the Charleston harbor ferries hampered the island’s growth. They envisioned a bridge across Charleston harbor to lure more vacationers to their resort. In 1926 the owners of the Isle of Palms formed the Cooper River Bridge Corporation for the purpose of financing and constructing a cross-harbor bridge. The intent of the company was obvious—to increase the number of visitors to the Isle of Palms via a bridge paid for by toll revenues—yet the bridge promoters also marketed themselves as community-minded businessmen who sought to bolster Charleston’s entire economy. After several years of intense political and financial negotiations, construction began on the Cooper River Bridge.

Throughout the planning and construction of the Cooper River Bridge, Charleston businessmen and political leaders heralded the structure as a symbol of the new, modern Charleston. The bridge must be viewed within the context of Charleston in the 1920s, and those forces behind the city’s drive towards modernization. For decades after the Civil War, Charleston existed in decay and depression. By the 1920s new industries were pumping much-needed capital into the city, and Charleston’s progressive leaders began an orchestrated effort to reform the conservative city. Progressive mayors like John Patrick Grace established the foundations upon which modern Charleston would be built. In this dynamic atmosphere, the Cooper River Bridge was a symbol of progress, a true marvel of modern bridge engineering. City