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1956 bridge collapse in Muscatine is remembered

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By Melissa Regennitter | Friday, August 03, 2007 |

MUSCATINE, Iowa — The bridge spanning the Mississippi River between Muscatine and Illinois collapsed twice — once in 1899 and again in 1956.

The privately owned Iowa 92 bridge cost $150,000 to erect in 1891. The first collapse dropped several men and horses transporting a load of cordwood 40 feet into frigid waters below.

The second collapse came on June 1, 1956, when a 22-year-old Muscatine man by the name of Duane Allen Chelf was being pursued by a police officer about 1 a.m. in the 200 block of East 2nd Street for driving too fast and without lights, according to Muscatine Journal archives. He outran the officer in his Ford convertible and headed across the bridge.

He hit a wooden bridge railing, knocking it loose and then smashed into a girder, forcing his car to land on its side. Traffic was stopped from both directions and a wrecker came to remove the car.

As traffic began to move again about 2:25 a.m., the second span from the Illinois side of the bridge gave way and fell into the water below.

A truck hauling two dump truck bodies landed with its front end in the Mississippi River. The driver climbed up the twisted girders to reach safety and was hauled ashore by rescue boat.

The collapse severed the bridge lighting. In the total darkness, rescuers initially could not figure out what had happened to the truck because it could not be seen.

Another man, hauling a truck load of empty Coca-Cola bottles, felt the span give way so he jumped from the vehicle, hitting his head on the way. His truck hung on the edge of the collapsed span, back wheels dangling in the air.

By the next morning, steps were being taken to establish a ferry service for vehicles to cross the Mississippi River.

The bridge was out of commission from June 1-Oct. 12, 1956, while repairs were done.

The current Iowa 92 bridge — known as the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge — was built in 1972 for $6 million.

More than 1,000 spectators lined the shores to watch the span of the new bridge be moved into place by towboats and diesel-hoisting engines on June 28, 1972. The concrete and steel bridge was constructed about a mile upstream from its predecessor that had wooden floors.

Melissa Regennitter can be contacted at (563) 262-0526 or mregennitter@

muscatinejournal.com.