Original Jenks Bridge

The Original Jenks Bridge is a 1909 steel Parker through-truss bridge built to carry traffic across the Arkansas River between Jenks and Tulsa at a time when permanent river crossings were rare in Oklahoma. Accepted by Tulsa County in June 1910 and opened shortly thereafter, the bridge served for decades as a critical transportation link supporting regional growth, agriculture, and commerce. Constructed with eleven 140-foot steel spans on concrete piers, it represented early-20th-century engineering focused on durability, efficiency, and permanence. Although replaced by a modern bridge in the late 1940s, portions of the Original Jenks Bridge were dismantled, sold, and reused at other locations, extending its working life well into the mid-20th century. The remaining section stands as a tangible survivor of Oklahoma’s early infrastructure era and a rare physical connection to the region’s transportation and engineering history.

After the bridge was replaced and sold for salvage beginning in 1949, its steel spans were dismantled in stages rather than removed all at once. Contractors reused multiple sections at secondary sites across northeastern Oklahoma, including rural crossings and private access roads. One remaining span was ultimately relocated and installed at what is now the Riverline site, where it served a practical, utilitarian purpose long after its original role as a major river crossing had ended. Its presence at Riverline is not accidental or decorative—it reflects a common mid-20th-century practice of reusing heavy infrastructure wherever it could still function. That final relocation is what preserved this last physical remnant of the Original Jenks Bridge and is why it exists today as the sole surviving section of a structure that once defined regional travel across the Arkansas River.

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