The first Sidaway Bridge, a wooden trestle bridge--the longest wooden bridge ever built in Cleveland, was constructed by this man's company. Collier was a contractor who was born in New York and initially planned to become a farmer, but, after serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, decided to become a railroad contractor. For decades, he traveled all over the country, building bridges and buildings for the railroads. He lived in Cleveland for only a short period of time, long enough, however, to successfully bid for and then build the Sidaway trestle bridge in 1909. Photographs of the bridge under construction suggest that his Cleveland workforce was almost entirely composed of African-American workers. | Source: Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special CollectionsDownload Original File
Source
Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections
"Harry J. Collier (1847-1930)" appears in: Sidaway Bridge
