The Fifteenth Street bridge at Blue Ridge was built in 1906 and 1907 by the Swenson Construction Company at a cost of $15,000. The bridge is 150 feet long, 80 feet wide and 80 feet above the street level at the highest point in the arch. It is a keystone arch built by stone artisans from native dimensional and rubble stone, and was, at the time of its construction, the largest single arch stone bridge west of Ohio. The structure occupies one of the highest elevations in Jackson County, providing a panoramic view of the metropolitan area to the east and west. Fifteenth Street (now Truman Road) passes under the arch, while Blue Ridge Boulevard traffic moves across it. A Kansas City Star news story of July 24, 1910, told of a group of park board members from Jersey City, N. J., who were touring the country looking for ideas. Standing at this high point on the newly constructed Blue Ridge Boulevard and looking westward across the valley of the Blue River, one of the men remarked In all the country there will be nothing like it. When Blue Ridge Boulevard is completed it will be the most beautiful drive west of the Hudson. Kansas City Star, January 25, 1975.
Reproduction (printing, downloading, or copying) of images from Kansas City Public Library requires permission and payment for the following uses, whether digital or print: publication; reproduction of multiple copies; personal, non-educational purposes; and advertising or commercial purposes. Please order prints or digital files and pay use fees through this website. All images must be properly credited to: "Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri." Images and texts may be reproduced without prior permission only for purposes of temporary, private study, scholarship, or research. Those using these images and texts assume all responsibility for questions of copyright and privacy that may arise.
