In 1907, the Lima & Toledo Traction Company began construction on the world’s longest reinforced concrete bridge in its time.
One hundred and sixty men worked for a year and a half on the 1,220-foot span. It took 440,000 feet of lumber to fabricate the forms for the twelve 100-foot-wide concrete arches. Its construction required 16,000 cubic yards of cement and 240 tons of steel. The hollow arches were filled with 8,000 cubic yards of earth. The piers, almost entirely above water, had to be pinned with steel rods to the bedrock below the Maumee River near Waterville. It was built by the National Bridge Company of Indianapolis, Indiana, with Gaylord Thompson as the chief engineer.
While the design of the bridge was considered an engineering marvel, its placement over the top of a limestone outcropping in the Maumee River, which had been designated a historic site, sparked outrage in the citizens of Waterville. Named “Roche de Boeuf” (Buffalo Rock) by early French trappers, the huge rock outcropping had been used for ages as a meeting place among Native American tribes in the region. Called the “Peace Grounds” by the original inhabitants, both natives and Americans used the site to plot war. In 1794, General Anthony Wayne led a retaliatory expedition against an Indian confederacy in the region. He and his officers waded out to the rock to strategize for what would be known as the Battle of Fallen Timbers that took place about five miles downstream…