Old Rhine Bridge (Bonn)

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Engraving of the old Rhine bridge in Bonn (around 1900)
Rhine bridge (approx. 1908)

The first Rhine bridge in Bonn is known as the Old Rhine Bridge. It existed from 1898 to 1945 and connected the city of Bonn on the left bank of the Rhine with the municipality of Vilich on the right bank of the Rhine . On the pillars of the structure destroyed at the end of the Second World War , a new Rhine bridge was built in 1948/49 , which was named Kennedy Bridge in 1963 .

history

Already in the 17th century there was a regular ferry connection in the form of a gier cable ferry (Gierponte) in this area . The then city of Bonn had been planning to build a bridge to the right bank of the Rhine since 1889. The steadily growing volume of traffic between the two river banks could no longer be managed by the existing ferry traffic. In addition, there were disabilities due to high and low tide, fog, ice drift and darkness.

In 1894, the Bonners then started talks with the community of Vilich ( Beuel ) about building a bridge over the Rhine. Before the inauguration of the first Rhine bridge at this point, a legal dispute had to be settled with the Fähraktiengesellschaft (community of so-called Fährbeerbten), which owned the ferry rights in this section of the Rhine. On May 13, 1896, the city of Bonn was able to agree with the ferry heirs on a settlement of 190,000 marks and compensation of a further 30,000 marks. Due to disputes between the two places on the left and right side of the Rhine about the exact location of the future bridge, a stone sculpture, the famous bridge man , was attached to a bridge pillar after the bridge was completed .

After some difficulties with the financing of the construction project, a competition for the bridge construction was announced in July 1894. The first prize, endowed with 8,000 marks, and with it the contract to build the bridge, went to Gutehoffnungshütte in Oberhausen with the company R. Schneider in Berlin and the architect Bruno Möhring . Foundation work began in April 1896 and after 33 months of construction, the bridge was opened to traffic on December 17, 1898. With a span of 187.92 meters for the main arch and a total length of 432 meters, it was the largest arch bridge in the world at the time and, due to its location in front of the picturesque Siebengebirge , one of the most beautiful Rhine bridges ever. The city of Bonn paid for the cost of four million marks with a public loan. The new bridge was thus the first large iron bridge over the Rhine that was financed by a single municipality. From the start, all passers-by had to pay a bridge toll of two pfennigs. This was initially canceled in 1927 for motor vehicles and then in 1938 for all other users.

From May 21, 1902, the city's first electric tram drove over the bridge from what was then Brückenstraße and connected the stations on both sides of the Rhine.

The pontoon bridge ("Beer Bridge") from Gronau to Limperich, March 1945

During the National Socialist era , the bridge was named "Klaus-Clemens-Brücke" (after the Bonn SA man Klaus Clemens ). Bad Godesberg was handed over on March 8, 1945, two months before the end of World War II . On the evening of that day, the “Old Rhine Bridge” was blown up around 8:20 pm. The Wehrmacht had withdrawn across the Rhine from approaching Allied combat units ( Operation Lumberjack ). The city of Bonn was handed over on March 9th at 9:00 am; After the US troops captured the Remagen Bridge on March 7, the demolition initially appeared to be militarily pointless. Nevertheless, on March 21, the American 237th Engineer Battalion had to temporarily build a pontoon bridge from the Gronau to Limperich .

From August 1945, the Bonn building committee dealt with the construction of a new bridge. This was built on the almost intact river and land pillars of the old Rhine bridge. The new Rhine bridge was opened on November 12, 1949 ; on December 2, 1963 it was named "Kennedy Bridge" after the American President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22, 1963 .

  • The old Rhine bridge (around 1900)

  • Postcard of the former Brückenstraße in Bonn (around 1910)

  • Gierponte Bonn – Vilich 1676

  • One of the few remaining parts of the bridge railing; now used as a property wall in Beuel. (2011)

  • The Bröckemännche was hanging on the Beuel bridge gate on the Rhine bridge

  • The bridge female hung as a counterpart to the Bröckemännche on the Beuel side

literature

  • Olga Sonntag : The first Rhine bridge in Bonn . In: This: Bonn in the Imperial Era 1871–1914. An exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the Bonn Homeland and History Association in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Bonn . Bonn 1986, pp. 71-83. [not evaluated for this article]

Web links

Commons : Old Rhine Bridge  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the competition for a road bridge over the Rhine near Bonn ... In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , XV. Volume, No. 2 (from January 12, 1895), p. 19 ( digitized version of the Central and State Library Berlin) on kobv.de
  2. ↑ The result of the competition for the construction of the Rhine bridge and the designs submitted for it are presented in: (Digital copies of the Central and State Library Berlin on kobv.de)
  3. ^ Helmut Vogt: City, Country, River, Occupying Power. The construction of the Bonn Rhine Bridge (1946–1949) as a joint task . In: Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsverein , Stadtarchiv Bonn (ed.): Bonner Geschichtsblätter. Yearbook of the Bonner Heimat- und Geschichtsverein , Volume 57/58, Bonn 2008, ISSN  0068-0052 , p. 405.
  4. ↑ general-anzeiger-bonn.de: Pontoon bridge in Beuel: The "Beer Bridge" is still famous today (accessed on March 24, 2015)

Coordinates: 50 ° 44 ′ 17 ″  N , 7 ° 6 ′ 33 ″  E