Champ Clark Bridge Marker Made by Hannibal & Pittsfield Students

Anyone who has ever crossed the old Champ Clark Bridge in Louisiana, MO knows the feeling of taking your life in your hands.  The bridge was so narrow, you involuntarily sucked in your breath to make yourself skinnier when you met a semi.  Now that bridge has been blown to bits, but it's memorialized at Louisiana's Riverview Park.

In 2017, when construction started on a new bridge connecting Pike County Missouri to Pike County Illinois, area STEM students were invited to provide a design for an interpretive display that would include pieces of the historic bridge. That panel is now along the riverfront and also acts as a memorial marker for the new bridge.

Five schools with STEM teams (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) contributed designs.  Hannibal High School earned the prize of the marker's design.  Pittsfield High School's team was chosen to supply the wording on the panel.

The schools will be recognized at a short ceremony January 15 at 2 p.m.  While you're there, take a minute to cross the new Champ Clark Bridge.  You be able to breathe easy now that the narrow, rickety old bridge is down and replaced by a new, safe span over the Mississippi River.