Thebes Historic Courthouse Overlook

The viewpoint is the grounds of the 1848 Thebes Historical Courthouse, on the bluff above the village of Thebes. The Thebes Bridge runs almost due west from the foot of the bluff: its east end is about 360 m (0.22 mi) south-southwest of the courthouse and the middle of the river spans about 760 m (0.47 mi) away, at a bearing of roughly 242 degrees. Because the bridge is aligned east-west and you stand north of its east end, you see its north side at a three-quarter angle from above, with the Missouri shore beyond. Union Pacific's double-track Chester Subdivision approaches from the north along the foot of the bluff and swings onto the bridge below you, so a train can be followed from the approach onto the river spans. This is a freight line with no passenger service. There is no trackside access here: it is an elevated view only.

The courthouse, built of local limestone, sits on a bluff above the Mississippi at Thebes, a small village in Alexander County at the southern end of Illinois. Below it, the double-track line runs along the foot of the bluff to the bridge's east approach, and across the river the Missouri bottomland stretches west. The five-span cantilever bridge, 3,959 ft (1,207 m) long, dominates the valley, standing 104 ft (32 m) above the river at its main span.

The Southern Illinois and Missouri Bridge Company was incorporated in 1900 to build a fixed crossing at Thebes. Ralph Modjeski and Alfred Noble were appointed chief engineers on November 4, 1901, and the main river spans were erected from each bank without any falsework in the water (Modjeski and Masters). The bridge was completed in May 1905 and dedicated with a test on May 25, 1905; Wikipedia gives April 18, 1905 as its opening date. It is a cantilever truss 3,959 ft (1,207 m) long with a 651 ft (198 m) main span and two tracks, and it became the only railroad bridge across the Mississippi between St. Louis and Memphis, a distance of over 400 miles (bridgestunnels.com). The courthouse above it is older still: completed in 1848 for $4,400 in a Southern Greek Revival style with a two-story porch, it served Alexander County until the county seat moved to Cairo, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 26, 1972.

Two landmarks 57 years apart share one view: an 1848 limestone courthouse and the 1905 cantilever bridge below it. The bridge is the only rail crossing of the Mississippi on a stretch of more than 400 miles between St. Louis and Memphis, and it was designed by Ralph Modjeski, one of the leading bridge engineers of his time.