Excerpt:
This an historic occasion. Today we are gathered here to dedicate a famous pioneer structure -- the oldest cable suspension highway bridge in the world -- as a national monument. Because this span has played a dramatic and significant role in the development of bridge engineering, and because its outstanding record of more than a century of distinguished service is interwoven with the unfolding panorama of American history, it is altogether fitting and proper that the shrine to thrill and inspire future generations.
When this great structure -- the first bridge over the Ohio River -- was completed in 1849, it was truly notable achievement. Its span of 1,010 feet was by far the longest in the world, the first time human courage and resourcefulness had achieved a span exceeding one-thousand feet.
Annotation:
Speech given by D.B.Steinman in 1956 in dedication of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the first bridge over the Ohio River.