One of the most significant events to impact the region occurred 70 years ago Tuesday.

The Jefferson Barracks Bridge, connecting St. Louis County with Monroe County, officially opened to traffic on Dec. 9, 1944.

Florence Metter Haberl of Columbia remembers the day fondly.

“I don’t go over (the bridge) one time that my memory doesn’t go back to that day,” she said.

Haberl, 90, had the honor of serving as “Miss Illinois” during the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was also attended by such dignitaries as Illinois Governor Dwight H. Green and Missouri Governor Forrest C. Donnell.

“I was 20 years old and had brown hair. I wore a sash and everything,” she told the Republic-Times in a recent interview. “I still have the scissors, too, and I can tell you that it was a cold, cold day.”

Florence’s father, longtime Columbia mayor A.C. Metter, played a major role in turning the idea of this bridge into a reality. Interest in improving communication to and from his community placed Metter in the midst of planning and promotion of the bridge.

He devoted countless hours of time and energy to securing the necessary authorizations and financing, and assisted with construction plans and other important aspects of this crucial highway link.

“My daddy was so farsighted for the future,” Haberl said. “But it took cooperation and unity to make it happen, and he was good at that.”

At that time, there were no bridges on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Chester.

“All we had was Davis Street Ferry,” Haberl said. “There was no connection at all.”

Construction of the bridge was financed through a $2.6 million revenue bond issue by the St. Louis County Court, while the approach highways leading to and from the bridge were constructed and paid for by the Illinois and Missouri state highway departments.

The Illinois approach was constructed at a cost of $607,000. Cost of the Missouri approach was $690,000.

Plans for construction of a bridge south of St. Louis began in the late 1800s, but bills were not introduced in Congress and the U.S. Senate until 1930. Both bills were approved by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939.

In naming the Jefferson Barracks Bridge, honor was paid to President Thomas Jefferson and the historic Army post that is now home to a U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital and a National Cemetery.

The original two-lane J.B. Bridge was a toll bridge until 1959, when the bonds were paid off. A few years later in 1963, South County Center opened, drawing thousands of shoppers to the region.

A new westbound span of the bridge opened in 1984, and a new eastbound span followed in December 1990. Money and construction issues led to the delay of the eastbound span.

“It was a very important event,” Haberl said of the 1944 opening. “Some just couldn’t understand at the time, putting money into a bridge in this area. But just look how it opened things up.”