NEELY GAS STATION AND
BRIDGE OVER NORTHWESTERN TURNPIKE DESTROYED -1960
As I was looking through some of the West Union Record newspapers that were so generously donated to the Historical Society in order to inventory them, I found an interesting story about the small bridge on Old Route 50 under which Doe Run flows on its way to Middle Island Creek on the west side of J P Service Station (formerly Travis Service Station).
It happened only ten years after the great flood of 1950 devastated Doddridge County and most of Central West Virginia. The date was August 4, 1960. It was a Thursday and like the 1950 flood, the clouds erupted leaving a mass of devastation in its wake. The difference was… nobody lost their life in this flood.
Still, Doe Run was pushing with a massive force as it made its way into Middle Island Creek. Some blamed the floodwaters for the collapse, while others blamed the poor construction of the bridge. The truth may lie somewhere in the middle.
Many of the roads were closed due to the up to five feet of water covering the surface. Tonkin Station on 18N was flooded as was several gas compressing stations throughout the county. A woman who was not identified was said to have been weakened with illness and was saved by firemen after being slammed against a utility pole.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad trains were delayed for several hours due to washouts and landslides. Telephone service was disrupted in both Doddridge and Ritchie Counties.
I was surprised to learn the gas station at the junction of West Main Street and the Northwestern Turnpike, which can be seen in the background of the first photo, belonged to Mr. Joseph Graham and that Doddridge County Historical Society Vice President, Gilbert Neely (who also happens to be my friend) was the son of Mr. Robert “Bob” Neely who had rented the Gas Station. The business had been in operation for a few months and was just becoming established when the terrible incident occurred.
Rev. Neely said that he remembered the day the bridge collapsed. He was a teen at the time but remembered the commotion it caused. He remembered that his father sold the candy bars for five cents and if you ate two of them, you just ate up your profit. He said he remembered the first time he pumped gas for a customer. He said that he was confused when the pump read $10 worth of gas and that it was still pumping after it went to $0 again. It was then that he learned that $10 was as high as it would read before rolling over and start reading again. Then, one would add the two numbers together to find the actual price.
In the photo below the remains of where the gas pumps were installed can be seen. They can be seen on the left as you turn right off old route 50 onto West Main Street.
Back to the bridge:
A large truck was said to have been heavily loaded with ammunition traveling eastbound when the bridge gave way causing it to become stalled on the bridge. The truck was soon pulled to safety just before the bridge collapsed. The truck was pulled off the road on the east side of the bridge and remained there for a short time. No doubt until the driver’s headquarters could be notified.
I did some research and found an article which appeared in the Sunday, Feb. 4, 1960 edition of “Parade” magazine, a weekly feature supplement that was distributed nationwide with many of the large daily newspapers. The photo of the collapsed bridge was used in an article entitled “The Great Highway Robbery” in which Parade magazine intended to expose the fraud in the country’s $41
billion-dollar highway program. The editors stated that the bridge new and blamed faulty construction as the reason for its collapse. The article also charged road officials of WV with some pretty serious wrongdoing in the Ripley.
The accusation put West Virginia immediately in attack mode. The Charleston Gazette, who ran a Sunday supplement, gave a scathing editorial. They also received the wrath of the Associated General Contractors of West Virginia, through the association president, John A. Anderson, whose letter of indignant protest was published. Oddly enough it appeared that Jack Anderson was the man who wrote the offensive article.
The West Union Record was dragged into the middle of it quite innocently when they received a phone call from the editorial office of Parade just a few weeks earlier at which time, they requested a copy of a photograph of the “Doe Run Bridge.” As it turned out, the newspaper did have a photograph and was happy to share.
A short time later, the West Union Record Office received another phone call. It was from the Parade editor-in-chief, Mr. Jess Gorkin. He asked an odd question, “Was the bridge new?”
The newspaper office answered, “no, it was not new. It was thought to be about thirty years old.”
Mr. Gorkin stated that he would have to change the picture’s caption or article to conform to the bit of enlightenment.
The results of the proposed fraud in the Dept. of Highways and the State of West Virginia is another story and best left for another day.
In the West Union Record on Thursday, Feb. 8, 1962 the following article was published regarding the bridge focused on in this article:
“A few years later, a man with four young sons lived at West Union, not far from this bridge. As kids would do, they liked to roam the neighborhood and sometimes played in Doe Run underneath the bridge as well as elsewhere in the run, in search of crawfish, minnows, or whatever else a kid might find of interest. When the father learned of this, he took his sons to the bridge and showed them some alarming things about the condition of the structure at its abutments. He then cautioned them, “Don’t play under this bridge. The Good Lord must be holding it up. Nothing else it.”
That man might have done a public service at the time by warning the proper authorities of what he knew. But he probably figured that the payoff for this particular type of public service would be derisive laughter, coupled with his being labeled a crank, or an alarmist. So, the man just made sure his kids understood- and let nature take its course. No one denies that nature did just that.”
If you like these stories of the “good ole days,” I’d like to remind you that these newspapers are jam-packed with similar stories that can be found nowhere else. They have documented our ancestors in real time, nothing else can come close to such riveting, in the moment, storytelling. I hope you will consider donating to the digitization of these more than 4,000 issues dating from the 1930s to the 1970s. If you can do so, make check out to Doddridge County Historical Society, P.O. Box 444, West Union, WV 26456. Note in the memo “newspapers.” We now have a total of $5,700, with $4,300 to go. We cannot thank everyone enough for their generous donations.
Donors include: Jan Chapman, Greg Barton, Lisa Maxwell Meyer, Ken Adams, Judy Bee, Cecil Polan, Janet Hawes, Ann Stout Newman, Lee Brice, Chris Butera, Richard Haney, Steven Butcher, and Doddridge County Historical Society. Total raised as of this date: $ 7,745.00, leaving only $2, 255 to reach our goal.
God bless everyone. You have been so kind and generous.
Patricia J Harris, President
Doddridge County Historical Society