October 10, 2015

1950 UNITED STATES (Missouri / Illinois) - Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River


Connecting St. Louis (Missouri) and East St. Louis (Illinois), the Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River, named for its designer and builder, James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, it was the longest arch bridge in the world, with an overall length of 1,964m. The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material. It was also the first bridge built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons.

The construction involved varied and confusing design elements and pressures. The location dictated reconciling differences in heights between the banks of the river. The bedrock required deep drilling to reach was 38m below water level on the Illinois side and 26m below on the Missouri side. The great compressive strength of steel was ideal for use in the upright arch design. On the other hand, the engineers devised a cantilevered rigging system to close the arches, because was unable to construct falsework to erect the arches, because they would obstruct river traffic.

About the stamps
About the first stamp, featuring a portrait of George Washington, I wrote here


Two of the stamps are part of the series Major League Baseball All-Stars, issued on July 20, 2012, as Forever stamps. Artist Kadir Nelson based his artwork on historic photographs of the four players. Art director Phil Jordan designed the stamps.
Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) - It's on the postcard 1950
Ted Williams (1918-2002) - It's on the postcard 1950
Larry Doby (1923-2003)
Willie Stargell (1940-2001)

References
Eads Bridge - Wikipedia

Sender: Denise 
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 26.03.2014
Photo: Dai Hirota

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