US Highway 65 Crossing Postcard

View from the Baptist Hill Lake Taneycomo, U.S. Highway No. 65 Crossing

"In the beautiful Ozarks, land of a million smiles"

At first I wasn't sure if the name of the bridge is actually US Highway 65 Crossing. But after trying different search strings, I found that it is actually called "Lake Taneycomo Bridge" and also found relevant information and images of the bridge. This postcard was also postmarked in November of 1948 from Missouri to Manila.

Lake Taneycomo Bridge Postcard

Information about Lake Taneycomo Bridge:

Lake Taneycomo Bridge is a five-span open-spandrel arch bridge over Lake Taneycomo (White River) on MO 76/Business US 65 at Branson located in Taney County, Missouri. The bridge was built in 1931 by Fred Luttjohann, replacing an earlier truss bridge. The builder is Fred Luttjohann of Topeka, Kansas.
Dimensions:
Length of largest span: 194.8 ft.
Total length: 1,086.7 ft.
Deck width: 20.0 ft.

I also found out that they are adding a new two-lane bridge right beside the old two-lane bridge. The bridge will remain in use to handle the the south bound traffic. The new bridge will be used for the north bound traffic.

SOURCES:Historic Bridges of the US: Lake Taneycomo Bridge

Old North Bridge, Concord, MA Postcard

Easier for me this time to gather information regarding the bridge because it is a famous one. The front of the card says:

OLD NORTH BRIDGE. Here took place about noon, April 19th, 1775, the principal engagement in Concord, the British being repulsed and retreating in great disorder. Across the bridge the statue of the "Concord Minute Man."

Old North Bridge Postcard

The North Bridge, often colloquially called the Old North Bridge, across the Concord River in Concord, Massachusetts is a historical site in the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first battle day in the Revolutionary War. Here five full companies of Minutemen and five of non-Minuteman militia occupied this hill with groups of other men streaming in, totaling about 400 against the British light infantry companies from the 4th, 10th, and 43rd Regiments of Foot under Captain Laurie, a force totaling about 90-95 men.
The bridge whose timbers reverberated with the famous "shot heard 'round the world" was constructed in 1760; one of a series of bridges that occupied the site since the 1630's. (The first documented bridge was built ca. 1654 though it is widely held that a bridge was located at, or near, the present site shortly after 1635, the year of incorporation of the Town of Concord.) The bridge of 1760 was replaced in 1788 only to be dismantled in 1793 when the river crossing was moved upstream. From 1793 to 1874 no bridge existed at this historic site.
In 1874, construction began on a new bridge to be ready in time for the centennial celebrations of the following year. Floods destroyed this bridge in 1888. A new bridge was constructed in 1889 only to be destroyed once again by floods in 1908. In an effort to create a sturdier bridge, engineers and architects designed the next bridge in concrete using as their model the original drawings by Amos Doolittle prepared shortly after the battle in 1775. Nature once again proved more powerful and in 1955, damage from Hurricane Diane left the bridge beyond repair. The current bridge was built in 1956 by the State of Massachusetts, based on drawings of the original bridge, built in the 1760s.

At this site also stands Daniel Chester French's well-known Minute Man Statue of 1875. This famous statue by artist Daniel Chester French, among whose later works include the seated Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.,was dedicated on April 19, 1875 as part of the Centennial celebrations. The statue was cast in bronze from ten condemned cannon supplied by the United States Congress.

SOURCES:
Old North Bridge Wikipedia Entry
North Bridge Restoration Project

Capilano Suspension Bridge Postcard

The Capilano Suspension Bridge is a simple suspension bridge crossing the Capilano River in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The current bridge is 136 metres long and 70 metres above the river.

Capilano Suspension Bridge Postcard

In 1888, George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer and land developer, arrived in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Mackay purchased 24 square kilometres of dense forest on either side of Capilano River and built a cabin on the very edge of the canyon wall. Assisted by two local natives and a team of horses, Mackay suspended a hemp rope and cedar plank bridge across the river. Natives called it the "laughing bridge" because of the noise it made when wind blew through the canyon. After his death, the hemp rope bridge was replaced by a wire cable bridge in 1903.
In 1910 Edward Mahon purchased the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Unsure of the bridge's strength, Mahon reinforced it with additional cables in 1914. In 1953 Rae Mitchell purchased the bridge property from Henri Aubeneau. Unsure of the 1914 cable strength, he completely rebuilt the bridge in 5 days in 1956, encasing the cables in 11.8 tonnes of concrete at either end.

SOURCE:
Capilano Suspension Bridge

Mainz Eisenbahnbrucke Postcard

I am now done with the map postcards in my collection. Next to be shown are my bridge postcards, mostly given as Postcard Heaven wishes.

This is my third German old bridge postcard. But I was luckier this time because I was able to find information about the bridge (German Wikipedia), and the current picture of the bridge. I'd prefer the old bridge. Too bad it was destroyed during WWII.

Mainz-Gustavsburger Eisenbahnbrücke Postcard

The Mainz South Bridge (also called Mainz-Gustavsburger Eisenbahnbrücke or Mainz-Gustav Local Railway Bridge) was built from 1860 - 1862, and combines part of the Rhine-Main railway and the main railway Mainz with Gustav's castle.

The original bridge had four major lens makers, including Pauli carrier (after the engineer Friedrich August von Pauli), followed by a long right-flood bridge with 31 other fields of views. Both bridge-heads was built with bridge towers that would defend the bridge in case of a war.
Basic Data
Location: Mainz-old town - Ginsheim-Gustavsburg
Use: Eisenbahnbrücke (Railway Bridge)
Construction: 1860 - 1862
Architect: Gottfried Heinrich Gerber
Construction: Pauli makers (including lens makers)
Destruction: 1945
Reconstruction: 1948-1949

Technical Data
Length: 1028 m
Width: 12.6 m
Height: 9 m
Building materials: Steel, stone
Spans: 106.6 - 105.6 - 105.6 - 106.6 m.
The South Bridge was destroyed during the Second World War. The bridge with two adjacent K-steel truss beams, each 12 m high and 424 metres long on common pillars, was rebuilt. Today there are only the western bridge towers.

Lord of the Rings Middle Earth Map Postcard

I know that this is a map of a fictional land. Those who are familiar or a big fan (like me) of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings would know Middle Earth. I tried to check the original map of the postcard, but wasn't able to find it, but am sure that this postcard is a reproduction of Tolkien's map that could have been published with his work.

Middle Earth Map Postcard

Middle-earth refers to the fictional lands where most of the stories of author J. R. R. Tolkien take place. In the Second and Third Ages the Western regions of Middle-earth contain the lands of Eriador, Gondor, the Misty Mountains, and the vales of the great river Anduin. To the east of Eriador lie the Misty Mountains which run from the far north to Isengard, home of the wizard Saruman, in the south. The Misty Mountains contain the great Dwarvish hall of Khazad-dûm or Moria. Eriador also contains The Shire, homeland of the Hobbits. East of the Mountains lies the land called Rhovanion and the great river Anduin and on its western side, under the eaves of the mountains lies the Elvish kingdom of Lothlorien, home of the Elf Galadriel, and the forest of Fangorn, home of the Ents. South and East of the Misty Mountains is the kingdom of Rohan, inhabited by the allies of Gondor, and further south is the kingdom of Gondor itself, founded by those Men who escaped the destruction of the island of Númenor. East of Gondor, and surrounded by high mountains is Mordor, home of Sauron in his fortress of Barad-dûr.

SOURCE:
Middle-Earth Wikipedia Entry