Monday, April 10, 2023

Roanoke, VA: 1888-1960s Roanoke Iron and Bridgeworks/Virginia Bridge and Iron Co.

(See below for satellite information)

Mike Lee posted
Virginia Bridge and Iron Co, probably 1915. This is a double / bi-fold postcard. I have several boxes of Roanoke Postcards.
Kaye Carter Gregory: My father, Wesley Carter, spent his entire working life at Roanoke Iron & Bridge Works, retiring as the long time Shop Superintendent. His father worked there as well, but before it moved to the Walnut Street bridge location. I have a faint memory (thus correct or not) that it had been near 3rd Street and had a smaller footprint.
 You got me to searching! Virginia Room records show Virginia Bridge & Iron (corrected) as having been bought by American Steel [Per PRJ's comment: American Bridge] and that it was closed in the early 1960’s [Per PRJ's comment: 1936-51].
http://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/document/city001
Sandra Stuckey: My father, William Ridenhour, worked there until they moved to New Jersey. He was invited to move with them, but he didn’t want to move his family out of Roanoke.
Randall Hampton shared
I had no idea their facility was this large. They built a vast number of bridges for N&W and VGN.

Tommy Wray commented on Mike's post, cropped
Here’s an aerial photo. Orange shows Orange Ave(460). Green shows Hollins rd. One noticeable landmark is at the intersection of the two. That large dirt cliff is where that car wash was smashed by a landslide along 460.
[3D Satellite, just southeast of here is the N&W East End Shops.]

1933 Roanoke Quad @ 62,500

1 comment:

  1. Virginia Bridge & Iron was bought by American Bridge (not American Steel), I have seen various dates between 1936 and 1951. I am not sure when the Roanoke works was closed.

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