By Dr. Frank Griggs, Dist. M. ASCE
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Proposals to span the Mississippi River by a bridge were submitted by Charles Ellet, Jr. in 1840 for a 1,200-foot suspension bridge and by John A. Roebling in 1868 for another suspension Bridge. A local engineer by the name of Truman Homer proposed a tubular bridge similar to Stephenson’s Menai Straits Bridge in 1865 with three 500-foot spans. With the opening of several bridges upstream on the Mississippi, the City of St. Louis feared losing its claim as the gateway to the west and started to plan its own bridge. This would require a charter from both Missouri and Illinois as well as the federal government. On February 5, 1864, St. Louis received its charter from Missouri which stated in Section 6:
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