150 years ago today, a circus elephant was led across the just-completed Eads Bridge in St. Louis. Popular thinking held that elephants had a sense about unsafe surfaces, but this not-so-wee beasty walked right across, impressing upon people that the bridge was sound. Of course, the test was a great publicity gimmick, too. A few weeks later, the bridge was dedicated, on July 4, 1874.
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