Alex Babb, a student at Chase County Middle School, got his wish Friday afternoon — he walked over the Cottonwood River Bridge after he cut the ribbon following a re-dedication ceremony in Cottonwood Falls.
Under sunny skies and a light breeze, students from Chase County schools and community members attended the ceremony of the bridge, which was opened to non-motorized traffic Friday afternoon after being restored. The bridge is a part of the Community Connection Trail that eventually will run from Cottonwood Falls through Strong City and link up with the lower trails at the Tallgrass National Preserve. The restoration of the bridge is the first phase of the three-phase project.
The Cottonwood River bridge was built in 1914 as part of the original U.S. Highway 50, which was later moved. It was part of Kansas Highway 177 until the mid 1970s when the highway was rebuilt. In 1984, after repeated flooding, the deteriorating bridge was closed to fishermen and pedestrians. Now, with restoration of the bridge, residents and visitors will be able to use the bridge for fishing, access to the riverbank, walking or just sitting.
During Friday’s ceremony, Cottonwood Falls Mayor Dan Riggs said he received a letter from Babb following Riggs’ annual visit to the third-grade class to talk about government. In a thank-you letter, then-third-grader Babb said he didn’t know the bridge was being restored and had wanted to walk on the bridge since he was in preschool. Babb got his wish as he and Riggs were the first two people to walk across the bridge on Friday.
Mike Holder, Chase County Extension agent, and member of the Community Connection Trail Committee, emceed Friday’s event. He said a group of citizens got together about three years ago and decided they wanted to re-build the bridge for citizens.
Kaye Jordan-Cain with the Kansas Department of Transportation read a letter from Deb Miller, Kansas secretary of transportation. In her letter, Miller said the preservation of the bridge was an important step in preserving the Flint Hills for visitors. A KDOT enhancement grant helped pay for the project. Community members also raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the project.
Leola Evans of Cottonwood Falls told the crowd that the bridge held many memories for different people.
Evans said there was an ice house along the river and ice was cut from the river during the winter and storied to be sold during the summer. She recalled the summer of 1938 when she pulled up with a flatbed truck to deliver ice to people for the summer.
“It had been cut the winter before from the river,” she said.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, community members filed across the bridge, followed by the Chase County middle and high school bands, who played for the ceremony.