The Silver Bridge Tragedy

The Silver Bridge Tragedy occurred one fateful evening on December 15, 1967 when local citizens on both sides of the river at Point Pleasant, West Virginia were rushing home from their normal routine of work or shopping. Local and out-of-state truckers were trying to make their scheduled deliveries. High up on the superstructure of the 39 year old Silver Bridge, a critical flaw had developed in one of the eyebars. Unbeknownst to those in the heavy rush hour traffic below, a serious structural failure was about to happen and the resulting domino effect was about to plunge the small community into a shocking tragedy which, to this day, has not been forgotten. At 5:00 PM, the entire bridge over the Ohio River collapsed, resulting in 46 fatalities and 9 injured victims. The lives of family, friends and co-workers were forever impacted.