If things had gone according to plan, the Great Wall of Akron would be nearing its centennial anniversary.
It certainly looked good on paper.
Most Summit County residents don’t know that the North Hill Viaduct, a concrete behemoth that stood for nearly 60 years before it was demolished in 1978, wasn’t the first structure envisioned to stretch across the Little Cuyahoga Valley.
Long forgotten is the original design, which a century ago called for construction of “a continuous industrial building” to link downtown Akron with North Hill.
The flat rooftop would serve as the bridge!
While automobiles, carriages and pedestrians crossed back and forth, a railroad system just beneath the street surface would unload raw materials and pick up goods manufactured on the bustling factory floors below.
Architect Fred W. Hagloch (1871-1929) dubbed his ambitious project the “Industrial High-Level Bridge.”
“The proposed structure is one of the most novel bridges the world has ever seen, and will undoubtedly arouse much comment,” the Akron Beacon Journal reported in 1912.
Actually, the conversation already was quite loud.
The North Hill Citizens Association had campaigned for “the value and necessity” of a viaduct since 1910.
Its members packed meetings to convince public officials that a bridge would improve citywide travel, promote development and reduce traffic accidents on notoriously steep North Howard Street.
The group’s chairman, Akron clothier Isaac S. Myers, was a North Hill resident who won office as Akron mayor in 1918-19 and 1934-35.
Other key members were John A. Davis, a North Howard Street druggist; Adolph J. Halter, a Dayton Street beekeeper; J. Caspar Keller, a Cuyahoga Street harness maker; Dr. Leroy B. Humphrey, an East Tallmadge Avenue physician; and Allen School Principal John McFarland, a resident of Blaine Avenue.
An odd suggestion
After the Akron City Council in 1911 encouraged architects to submit plans, Hagloch recalled an odd suggestion by Bion E. Rockwood, a clerk at Mohican Oil & Gas Co., to develop a factory building that doubled as a bridge.
A Bolivar native, Hagloch was a specialist in reinforced concrete design and the author of the 1904 book Art Stone, one of the first guides dedicated to the subject. He and his business partner, J. Ellsworth Potter (1888-1958), an Ashtabula native, had offices at the Akron Savings & Loan Building.
“Mr. Hagloch lays his claim to success not so much as a producer of picturesque drawings, but upon the practical and attractive originality of his designs,” Cleveland trade magazine Ohio Architect, Engineer and Builder reported in 1912. “He is thoroughly grounded in the practical side of his profession and is the inventor of improvements in building construction, all of which have given his designs a peculiar value of their own.”
Made of reinforced concrete and structural steel with brick-and-tile walls, the Industrial High-Level Bridge was expected to cost $1 million (about $23 million today). Its measurements were 2,580 feet long, 60 feet wide and 98 feet tall at its highest point.
A damlike structure would connect downtown Akron at North Main and Furnace streets with North Hill at Howard and Frederick streets “without any angle or curve.” The building’s huge arches would vault the Little Cuyahoga River and side streets such as North, Lods and Charles.
Plans called for two-way traffic across the roof, 8-foot-wide sidewalks, direct elevator service to all floors, two public comfort stations on each level and a railroad with side tracks. Hagloch assured officials that in “no case does the vibration of passing trains over the bridge interfere with the industries underneath.”
Popular Mechanics magazine commented: “It is believed that the considerable amount of convenient and economical floor space could be depended upon to persuade many new industries to locate in Akron.”
The Ohio Architect concluded: “The project has so many commendable features that it cannot but meet the approval of this wide awake and enterprising community.”
Plan falls apart
So why didn’t the bridge get built? Bad timing and bad luck.
The devastating flood of March 1913 turned the Little Cuyahoga River into a raging monster that pulverized and washed away homes on Lods, North, Cuyahoga and Howard streets. If the industrial building had been under construction during the catastrophe, it surely would have been wrecked.
Realizing it might not be wise to build a Great Wall of Akron in a flood zone, local officials decided to go with a more traditional bridge. Money remained a sticking point until the City Council approved legislation in 1916 to fund a $2.5 million viaduct.
Hagloch and Potter lost out.
Instead, Howard, Harrington & Ash of Kansas City designed the 2,810-foot span, which was made with 100,000 tons of concrete and 5 million pounds of steel. Its builder was the James O. Heyworth Construction Co. of Chicago.
After more than two years of construction, the viaduct opened on Oct. 12, 1922, with a grand parade that attracted 150,000 spectators.
That was the big hurrah for the landmark.
In a few years, the giant bridge began to disintegrate, dropping heavy chunks of concrete into the valley. Its inadequate drainage couldn’t handle Ohio’s rain and snow.
After more than 50 years of repairs and patches, the crumbling viaduct was demolished in 1978. Its steel replacement, the $25.7 million All-America Bridge (better known as the Y-Bridge) opened in 1982.
Despite rejection of the Industrial High-Level Bridge, architects Hagloch and Potter had successful careers.
Potter designed several Cleveland churches, including St. George’s Lithuanian, St. John Cantius, Sacred Heart of Jesus, St. Benedict, St. Hyacinth and St. Mary of the Assumption.
Hagloch designed the West Akron homes of Mahlon S. Long, Henry Kraus and Dr. Edward W. Barton, along with Firestone Park’s Waldo Theater, later renamed the Circle Theater.
His best-known structure probably is Peoples Hospital, which opened in 1914 and is now known as Akron General Medical Center. The original building still exists, although its view is obstructed by later additions.
Nearly a century later, most of Hagloch and Potter’s local landmarks still stand.
Perhaps Akron officials should have given them a second chance at designing that bridge.
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send email to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.