The Jefferson Street Footbridge spans the north yards of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway from Chase Street to the corner of Jefferson and Commercial. Completed in 1907, the bridge was constructed by the American Bridge Company of Patterson, Pa., for $8,200. The ordinance authorizing the bridge also provided for underpasses at Lynn and Washington Streets for vehicular traffic, offering safe passage for vehicles and pedestrians from residential areas north of the railway yards to the Commercial Street shopping area. As originally designed, the bridge's main span was 406 feet long, suspended by two towers. Access on the north was provided by steps and a bicycle ramp 245 feet long. In 1954 the ramps were replaced by the present concrete steps, but the main span remains as a rare example of a suspension bridge for pedestrian traffic, still serving as an imaginative solution to a public safety problem and an unusual feature of the city landscape.

Approved: 12/10/73