Early Omaha: Gateway to the West
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UNION PACIFIC BRIDGE

This is a picture of the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge that connected Omaha and Council Bluffs, the first bridge to do so. In March 1868 Union Pacific announced that the bridge would be built between those two cities, thereby putting to rest Omaha's fear that it would be built six miles to the south at a place called Childs' Mill. Had the bridge been built at Childs' Mill it would have been a serious economic blow to Omaha, one that might have made it impossible for the city to grow to anything close to its current size; however, some historians question whether Union Pacific ever seriously considered building it anywhere other than Omaha. At any rate, the bridge was built and in use by March 1873, with the city of Omaha paying $250,000 of the bridge's $1,450,000 building cost as per a March 1868 agreement with Union Pacific.In 1877 the east side of the bridge was damaged by a cyclone, but not irreparably so. The bridge was, however, completely rebuilt in 1886, and was completely rebuilt once again in 1916.