February 20, 2018
The Collapse of the Niagara Falls Honeymoon Bridge
Built in 1899, the Niagara Falls Honeymoon Bridge or the Falls View Bridge as it was often called, was known at the time as the greatest steel arch bridge in the world.
On January 23rd, 1938, a massive buildup of ice below the Falls (referred to as an Ice Bridge) began to push over the abutments of the bridge. As the ice grew to nearly eighty feet, and efforts to blast away the ice failed, locals knew it was only a matter of time before the bridge would collapse, closing the bridge to all traffic.
After standing for nearly 40 years, the bridge collapsed into the Niagara Gorge on January 27th, 1938, as thousands of spectators watched from both sides of the Niagara River.
Because the Honeymoon Bridge collapsed onto the Ice Bridge, it took months for it to entirely diminish, remaining on the ice for some time. It wasn’t until April 12, 1938 that the final piece slipped into the water and sank below the surface.
In 1941, the Rainbow Bridge, which is located just north of the old Honeymoon Bridge, was opened as a replacement. Still in use today, The Rainbow Bridge sits much higher above the water than the previous bridge did to ensure its chances of collapsing are extremely slim.
Here are a few photographs taken in Niagara Falls circa 1930’s. The first show a part of the Honeymoon Bridge taken in 1937 before the collapse. The two other photos show the bridge on the ice.