c. 1926
Built in 1922 by the Marsh Bridge Company, the Spring River Bridge was an elegant three-span structure designed by James B. Marsh, who began a professional career as a bridge designer with the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1883. During his tenure with the King Bridge Company, which was one of the largest in the United States at that time, Marsh also became the head of the Northern Agency for the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company, where he not only was a key designer, but also oversaw construction.
By March 1889 Marsh had become general western agent and contracting engineer for the King Bridge Company and was placed in charge of the general western office in Des Moines, Iowa. In the spring of 1896 he formed his own company, the Marsh Bridge Company, and at the turn of the century began to design bridges utilizing a steel skeleton structure encased in concrete, which gave his bridges their unique and graceful look.
In April 1904 the Marsh Bridge Company was incorporated as the Marsh Engineering Company, and in 1912 Marsh was awarded a patent for the Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge, a design that became a favorite with state engineers and county commissioners. The bridge could be built using inexpensive materials, and it was durable, aesthetically pleasing, and virtually maintenance free. A standard Marsh bridge consisted of one to three arches, although they have been built using as many as 11 arches. The earliest known Marsh bridge in Kansas was built in 1917, and the last was erected in 1934. Construction of the arch bridges reached its peak in the late 1920s and declined after 1930.
In 1986, too narrow to handle the modern traffic flow and simply obsolete, the Spring River Bridge was dismantled. The Willow Creek Bridge near Baxter Springs met its end on November 11, 1991. The only remaining Marsh bridge on Route 66 rests a couple of miles west of Riverton over Brush Creek. Built in 1923, the single-span Brush Creek Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It was slated for demolition in the mid-1990s, but the combined preservation efforts of the Kansas Route 66 Association, the Cherokee County Commission, and protesters from around the world saved it. The Brush Creek Bridge was fully restored. Today it stands as a testament to its designer and as a memorial to the millions of motorists who traveled her during the glory days of the Mother Road.
c. 1960
Traveling westward just across the Spring River Bridge, one encountered the entrance to the historic Spring River Inn. In the early years of Missouri’s statehood, this area along the banks of the Spring River was declared a no man’s land and a no-fighting zone for Missouri citizens and the Cherokee nation. By 1869 this buffer zone was no longer necessary, and the land was opened to settlers.
In 1902 B. F. Steward built a private residence on a parcel of land along the edge of the Spring River and thus laid the groundwork for the Spring River Inn. On July 24, 1905, Steward sold his home to the Country Club of Joplin, Missouri. The club became the social center of the area and was so popular that it was a regular stop on the Joplin trolley line. In 1913 the Country Club boasted an early version of a built-in swimming pool known as a swimming tank. Only 4 feet deep, the pool’s abandoned foundation still sits a few hundred yards northeast of the inn.
The Spring River Inn was situated on 7 1/2 acres and included tennis courts, picnic areas, and boating facilities. When the Great Depression hit in the 1930s, the club fell on hard times. In 1932 club president J. W. Grantham bought the building and used it for several years as a summer home for himself and his wife, Cora Pear. The Granthams regularly entertained theater celebrities there as actors made their way through Joplin and Baxter Springs on tour. After only a few years, however, the home stood vacant, abandoned and all but forgotten.
Thankfully the inn was purchased and saved by June and Gates Harrold in 1952. They fully converted the inn to a large restaurant with six private dining areas, including a room to seat over 350 guests. The Harrolds sold in 1970 and from then to 1994 Judy and Ray Birk owned and operated the Spring River Inn. On November 1, 1994, partners David and Kay Graham and Dewayne and Lavern Treece purchased the inn. The Spring River Inn was well known for its 35-foot all-you-can-eat buffet, a culinary delight loaded with delicious home-cooked food and desserts, including two trademark specialties: cinnamon pull-apart bread and squaw bread.
The Spring River Inn closed in 1996 and met its permanent demise in a fire that completely destroyed the building on October 20, 1998.
BAXTER MODERN CABINS, BAXTER SPRINGS
c. 1947
Built in the mid-1940s, this classic U-shaped motel consisted of 12 guest rooms and a gas station that doubled as the motel office. Each gable-roofed unit was connected to a covered carport that featured an unusual semicircle façade. Legend has it that two married lovers who were carrying on an illicit affair made the motel their usual meeting place. One evening a faulty natural gas line filled their room with gas, and they never awoke from their blissful sleep. They were found the next morning together in bed, much to the dismay of their respective spouses.
Highway 66 through Kansas comprised just slightly more than 13 miles of roadway, but provided a microcosm of the entire route. Service stations, cafés, and motels, as well as various stands and shops, were located all along those 13 miles. Most are long gone, as are the Baxter Modern Cabins, which closed around 1965. A faceless Wal-Mart now sits on the former site of the motel where travelers and the occasional star-crossed couple sought refuge. If you tend to believe in such things as ghosts, you have to wonder if the two lost souls, hopelessly in love, are endlessly wandering the store aisles searching for a way out.
