In 1849, the new Wheeling Suspension Bridge was a triumph of engineering, the world's longest clear span bridge. The Wheeling bridge was also a landmark in the development of the American frontier, spanning the Ohio River to speed settlement and commerce in the Midwest and beyond. In 1999, historians, engineers, and industrial archaeologists from around the world met in Wheeling to celebrate the still-busy bridge's 150th anniversary. This book presents highlights of the conference, and points out the far-reaching effects of bridge-building.

Emory L. Kemp has fostered the use of a material culture approach for the study of the industrial past and has researched and preserved historic industrial sites throughout the United States and overseas. Kemp was a founding member and past president of the Society of Industrial Archeology. Since 1989, he has served as director of the Institute of the History of Technology and Industrial Archaeology at West Virginia University.