Throughout its 75 year existence, this mammoth structure has physically defined our skyline like nothing else. Its construction drew hundreds of onlookers on a regular basis for two years. Its completion marked a milestone in bridge construction. As we press forward into the 21st century, and our collective memories fade, the 'Big Four' Bridge somehow seems less important.  If only the old bridge could tell stories. Both triumph and tragedy surrounded its building. Those details have been forgotten by most, but an enduring mystery remains: Is there a body of a man somewhere within one of the massive columns? Fiction or fact? Each reader must draw his or her own conclusion. This is the checkered history of the building of the bridge.

The completion of the Sidney Feeder Canal through the town by the mid-1840's opened up commercial opportunities for local businessmen and farmers, but it was the arrival of the railroads that signaled Sidney's ascent as an early industrial powerhouse.

The Dayton and Michigan line connected Shelby County to the important northern and southern markets by 1856, but the first company to launch the railroad era in Shelby County was the Bellefontaine and Indiana. This line, which was later known as the Big Four Railroad, was the east-west link through the county. Local attorney Hugh Thompson played a key role in the formation of the Bellefontaine and Indiana. County voters supported the purchase of stock in the fledgling railroad in the general elections of 1848 and 1850. Construction was finished July 1853.