Competing visions of community, commerce and construction in the first Ohio River railroad bridge

While various technological historians have recognized the significance of the Steubenville Bridge as the first railroad structure across the Ohio River, no effort has previously been made to fully assess the historical and political contexts of its construction. This paper will explore the federal government's full assumption of its proper place as the mediator of conflicts between navigation and railroad interests, as well as the corporate influences, municipal rivalries, sectional conflicts, and technological elements of the drama that circulated around the bridge's construction. An effort will be made to identify the design sources for the designer and superintendent of its construction, Jacob H. Linville. Although the first Steubenville Bridge is today only a memory, it is important to recognize its proper place in the realms of American federal public policy, structural precedents, construction history, and corporate models for bridge construction.