Asylum Bridge

The Asylum Bridge, which crosses the Marais des Cygnes River at First Street, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It was built during a three month period – October through December, 1905, by Kansas City Bridge Company out of Kansas City, Missouri. Its bid of $4,800 was the lowest of the ten companies bidding. The bin-connected reverse Parker truss structure is 219 feet long and 16.5 feet wide and originally has gas lights at each end.

No other examples of this bridge design have been located to date. It has been closed to vehicle traffic since the mid-1970s and, due to safety concerns, was closed to pedestrian traffic a couple decades later.