The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge, or The Second Street Bridge, was completed in 1929 and it linked Clarksville, Indiana to Second Street in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Rather than build from land to sea, the bridge was built from the center out; a method later used to construct other bridges such as the Bay Bridge in Oakland, California. The architects Ralph Modjesk and Frank Masters designed this bridge as a Cantilever Bridge which uses arms attached to anchors to suspend the center of the bridge. The cost to build this bridge was $4.8 million, or $78 million in today’s money.
The bridge is very special to the city of Louisville. It is a state highway and the only bridge without a toll in the downtown area today. When it was built, however, there was a 35-cent toll to cross. Also, this bridged helped relieve traffic on the much older K&I train and vehicle bridge that was opened in 1870. Later, more bridges were built in the downtown area including the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge, that was opened in 1963 and the Abraham Lincoln Bridge that was opened in 2015. These two bridges serve Interstate 65 traffic.
Although the bridge is cool looking and magnificent, there is more history to it that is associated with a local figure. 18-year-old Cassius Clay (changed to Muhammad Ali later), a world-famous boxer, proud and full of joy after winning gold in boxing at the 1960 Rome Olympics, came back to his home city of Louisville with praise, a parade, and a step towards equal rights… so he thought. At a restaurant located in an alley near the bridge, Clay was face to face with 1960 Jim Crowe America. He attempted to enter a “whites only” restaurant to give it a shot and see if they would let him enter. Unfortunately, he walked into slurs, hatred, and a gang of angry white men wanting to try and steal his medal. Stupidly, the white men tried to fight off and scare the Olympic Gold Medalist, with his medal over his neck, but failed to take it.
Cassius left and walked along the Second Street Bridge, angry at how society had treated a hometown hero. He took his medal he worked so hard for and threw it over the edge close to where the photo was taken. He had not taken it off since he had it. From interviews, people close to him said he slept with it, wore it everywhere and refused to take it off. He was prouder to have won it than anyone else. After the incident at the restaurant, he was angry at his treatment and felt unappreciated for the glory he brought back home. Later in interviews, he said, “I felt no pain and no regret… Only relief, and new strength.”
36 years later at the 1996 Atlanta, Georgia Olympic Games, Ali was given a new medal to replace the one thrown into the river.
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