The Chicago & Alton was one of the pioneers among Western Railroads. The first segment of the C&A expansion was from Springfield, Illinois to Alton, Illinois in 1852. The following year it was extended to Normal. A year later it was lengthened as far North as Joliet, to connect to the Rock Island Railroad, giving access to Chicago. The C&A was connected to St. Louis by way of a packet boat from Alton.

The decision was made to continue the line westward in order to settle the state of Missouri. The line was extended from Roodhouse, Illinois to Mexico, Missouri. In 1877, a group was formed to continue the line from Mexico to Kansas City with the intention to lease it to the C&A. The C&A was to be responsible for constructing the railroad track.

Mr. Blackstone, who was President of the C&A Railroad at that time, employed General Sooy Smith as Chief Engineer to design and supervise the construction of the bridge across the Missouri River at Glasgow. The C&A was using two ferry boats, the J.C. McMullin and W.H. Christy, to cross the Missouri River, while waiting for a bridge to be built.

Cast iron bridges, at that time, had a hard struggle to compete with the best wooden bridges. The iron had the tendency to crystalize under heavy strain and caused them to fail. Engineers saw the need to correct this problem and find other material which would be free from the weaknesses inherent in iron bridges. General Sooy Smith received a letter from A.T. Hay, a gentleman living in Burlington, Iowa, who wrote that for twelve years he had been engaged in making tests of a mixture of steel and iron. He had succeeded in making new alloys of iron and steel which showed remarkable qualities. It was decided to use this new steel in the bridge at Glasgow. The bridge was to have five 314-foot truss spans with 1,140 feet of approach span.

The bridge builders of the day made a prophecy of doom for the undertaking, only to have disaster come during the construction period. One of the steel spans was plunged into the river when false work gave way, but it was not the fault of the steel. The span was twisted and bent, but examination showed no fracture in the material. The disaster proved the strength of the steel and the bridge was finished for service on June 7, 1879.

The bridge was designed to carry a load of two 66-ton engines, followed by a load of 1,820 pounds per lineal foot and it served adequately for twenty years. Railroads developed faster locomotives and weights were increasing which required, in 1899, a new bridge to be built to conform with modern railroad needs. Hay lived long enough to see his steel accepted but died in obscurity in 1895.