The Other Glendale Bridge Collapses
Story furnished by Clarence Crocker



According to a brief news article appearing in the Saturday morning Spartanburg Herald paper on August 20, 1921, the small wooden bridge at the upper end of the Glendale Mill pond had collapsed under the weight of a truck loaded with cotton. It was reported that a number of men spent several hours fishing bales of cotton out of the water. We can only presume that the cotton was headed to Glendale Mills. 

A second article appearing in the paper on Thursday morning August 25, 1921, stated that the bridge collapsed on Friday the 19th when a truck hauling twenty bales of cotton was crossing over the bridge. Owned and operated by Cooper, Griffin and Company of Greenville, S. C., the trucking firm volunteered to pay their share of repairing the bridge. 

The last article also stated that in preparation for the bridge repair, the heavy timbers for the structure had already been cut and hewn and would be sent to Glendale that day. The bridge was a wooden structure for many years. 

Known as the “Mud Creek Bridge” it is located just below the old Glendale ball park on the Spartanburg/Glendale road commonly called “The Country Club Road”. It crosses over a small contributory branch which empties into Lawson Fork river/pond. When the waters in the pond would rise due to heavy rains, the pond water backed up into the contributory. I have seen the water 5 or 6 inches over the floor of the bridge. 

While it was possible for two cars to pass on the bridge, obviously it was meant to be a single lane bridge. Numerous fender benders occurred on the bridge due to drivers ignoring this fact. Warnings were not posted on bridges and roadways then as now. It was, and still is, located in a curve which increases the danger. 

One of the young men from Glendale was crossing over the bridge when another car approached from the other side. The young man’s hand lying in the driver’s door window with his fingers overreaching the frame, resulted in the loss of two or three fingers from his hand when the cars smashed against each other.

It was not until the 1950s, after a major wreck that we were able to get the bridge updated in structure and widened to two lanes. A few years later it was replaced with a concrete structure which remains today and is shown in the photo above.

Click on the link Glendale Dams, Ponds and Bridges to read more about these other features.

Return to the Mill Village
Return to Glendale Homepage


This web site has been started as a public service to share the story of Glendale. See more information about Mary and her Glendale connection at Mary McKinney Teaster.