The first swing bridge in FL was the Lake Monroe bridge that was electronically operated. In 1932-33 the state used some federally funding to build the bridge which replaced the wooden toll bridge that was manually operated at the Wayside Park location. 

The construction of the bridge provided some economic relief for an area that was hurting from the depression. The bridge was fabricated by Ingall's Iron Works of Birmingham Alabama. If you remember we went their one time to investigate a haunted iron factory. The swing machinery was manufactured by the Earle Gear and Machine Co. Philadelphia PA and was erected by W.W. White Steel Construction of St. Petersburg FL.

The Kreis Contracting Company of Knoxville TN was the general contractor for the FL Department of Transportation and Seminole County cooperated in preserving the swing span bridge as a fishing pier when the new Benedict Bridge was completed in 1994 nearby. 

The bridge had a nice historic impact to the area around Sanford but it also is a historical example of bridge engineering. 

The bridge was 627 feet long and included a 235 foot swing span. It carried the main route linking Daytona Beach and Tampa via Deland, Sanford, Orlando and Lakeland. It could pivot 360 degrees on its curved rack and two spur pinions.

The Warren-type through truss construction had a central panel section peaked to accommodate the drive machinery. The Warren-type truss is considered the most economical construction for continuous spans.

It is characterized by the diagonals that alternate in direction. The first diagonal beam starts at the base level and goes up to the top. The next diagonal starts at the top and goes down to the base level. The diagonals are the tension and compression in the alternate panels. To meet the heavy stresses of the swing span operation the bridge arms were heavily reinforced and had riveted connections at all stress points. The harbor nearby for Lake Monroe Park in Volusia County was created by fill taken for the approaches to the lake Monroe Bridge. 

The park is not only a place for this historic bridge it also is the place where some deaths have occurred. The area near the power plant has been causing some of the fish to grow beards anotherwards some of its toxic so do not eat the fish that are in the mouth of Lake Monroe. There is a cross which bares two names on it so we know for a fact that there has been deaths near the bridge besides the fact that the CSX railroad also runs parallel with the park. 

There is a picnic shelter here and some docks. Along with that there is the suspended bridge house and an old outhouse within the park. So the entire area perhaps is historic and then of course the park is built right on into it. I have rowed a small boat in this area and it gets pretty gloomy here at night.

© By

Lord Rick-AngelOfThyNight

 

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Stretch Of I-4 Believed To Be Haunted Built Over Graves


POSTED: 6:42 pm EDT May 8, 2007
UPDATED: 9:28 am EDT May 9, 2007


ORLANDO, Fla. --
A small stretch of Interstate 4 between Daytona Beach and Orlando where motorists have reported unexplained, ghostly sightings was built on top of four graves, Local 6 News reported.

On Monday night, Local 6's Mike Holfeld reported on a stretch of road that has been the location of nearly 2,000 accidents since 1963.


Over the years, people reported seeing strange things on the road.

"People are claiming to see all kinds of things -- orbs floating across the highway, apparitions on the side of the road hitchhiking, phantom trucks, you name it," book author Charlie Carlson said.

After the report aired, viewers called to learn more about a photo of a ghostly figure seen in front of a crumpled sedan that was apparently taken on the "I-4 Dead Zone."

Carlson, who is the author of the book Weird Florida, said he received the ghostly photo via e-mail from a Melbourne reader four years ago.

However, Holfeld has learned that the photograph or one similar to it has been circulating since 1999.

Holfeld also said what is certain is that four graves are located beneath the stretch of I-4.

The graves date back to the 1880s and a settlement called St. Joseph’s Catholic Colony, the report said. One of the German families fell victim to a yellow fever epidemic.

"It is two adults and two children buried on the very spot that has been shrouded in mystery," Holfeld said.

The family buried under the road is one of eight families found on a document, Holfeld said. The names are: Geiseker, Schlosser, Krueppel, Bauer, Forwald, Ochbosch, Yueger and Kulsch.

"We can pretty much narrow it to one of those families for sure," Sanford historian Christine Best said.

The Florida Highway Patrol is working with Local 6 to develop new information in the case, Holfeld reported.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.