The collapse of the Silver Bridge, which spanned the Ohio River from Kanauga, Ohio to Pt. Pleasant, West Virginia on Dec. 15, 1967 is a part of the fabric of our area. Anyone living in the region that is old enough to remember the collapse has a story to tell. They all remember where they were when they first heard the terrible news. Like the death of President Kennedy or the Attack on Sept. 11th for the current generation, the collapse of the Silver Bridge is burned into their minds and has affected their lives moving forward. For those of us who grew up in the aftermath of the collapse, I speak from experience when I say that I remember many stories of the collapse and grew up hearing them told again and again.
Even now, if you mention the bridge collapse in a group of people, someone has a connection of some sort to a person who either lost their life on the Silver Bridge or escaped the disaster by some twist of fate or divine providence. The Point Pleasant River Museum serves as an archive of the rich history of the Silver Bridge fall and Stephan G. Bullard, Bridget J. Gromek, Martha Fout and Ruth Fout have authored a book, The Silver Bridge Disaster of 1967 full of photographs, history, and personal accounts which tell the story of the tragedy in vivid detail.
The Meigs County District Public Library will host a book signing event on January 26th at the Pomeroy library. Silver Bridge historian, Don Goosman will present a program at 1:30 p.m. and authors Ruth Fout and Martha Fout will make copies of the book available for purchase and signing from 1 – 3 p.m. Bring your children and grandchildren as well as your personal stories to share so that the history of the Silver Bridge can be passed on to future generations.