Hear about James Eads and the Historic Eads Bridge, a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois. Eads, a self-taught engineer, completed the bridge in 1874. The Eads Bridge was the longest arch bridge in the world, and its ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material: it was the first such use of true steel in a major bridge project. David Lobbig, Curator of Environmental Life at the Missouri History Museum, will tell us about the bridge and its self-made builder, James Eads.