Let's take a moment to appreciate the letter “Y” Hold your criticism.

We know it's misshapen.

That's the point.

You see, a long time ago, the general shape of this versatile letter was able to connect four communities at the confluence of two rivers and to this day remains an instantly recognized landmark.

This is the Y bridge on the western edge of downtown Zanesville, and it's a feast for trivia lovers.

Don't be alarmed if you're ever instructed to go to the middle of the bridge and turn left as many confused travelers have been in the past.

Uniquely, the bridge can be crossed without ever changing sides of the river.

Airplane pilots used to heavily rely on ground based landmarks to assist with navigation.

The presence of the Y bridge led Amelia Earhart to declare Zanesville the most recognizable city in the country.

The bridge hasn't always looked like this.

In fact, this is the fifth version of the Y bridge.

To begin this tale, we have to go back to the early 1800s when the area around the confluence of the Licking and Muskingum rivers was occupied by four different communities Zanesville, Putnam, Natchez and West Zanesville.

At the time, the quickest way to travel between the four was by ferry.

That changed in 1812 when the Ohio General Assembly granted a charter to allow construction of a bridge which opened to traffic two years later in 1814.

It was a for profit endeavor.

They had to get a charter from the state legislature permission to build the bridge and to charge people to use the bridge.

What sort of tolls could someone expect on their journey across the first Y bridge?

Each foot passenger paid $0.03 while each horse or mule was $0.04 Add some sort of carriage, cart, or sleigh with wheels and additional animals, and the price could go as high as $0.75.

The only exceptions to the tolls were for churchgoers and those in funeral or military processions.

The first Y bridges days were numbered, though, and it didn't take long before a replacement was necessary.

Construction of that bridge was not very good.

The technology in 1814 was not very advanced.

They used materials that were available, not necessarily the best material to build a bridge that was going to last.

And it didn't last.

After just four years, spring floods washed the bridge away.

In 1819, the second Y bridge opened, but this too was short lived.

Increased traffic saw the second bridge deemed unsafe after just 12 years of existence, with a third Y bridge completed in 1832.

For those keeping score, that's three different bridges over the span of 18 years.

Thankfully, the third time really was the charm.

Third Y Bridge was a much better designed bridge.

It was a covered bridge.

It was one of the better bridges of its type.

And it lasted a long time, you know, for a bridge made out of wood.

During the third Y Bridge's life in 1868, the toll was abolished when county commissioners bought the bridge, ending its reign as a for profit endeavor.

By 1900, the community had overwhelmingly voted in favor of tearing down and replacing the bridge due to safety concerns.

After 68 years, it was time for the fourth Y Bridge.

The bridge that they built in 1900 opened in 1902.

The building materials were a lot different.

They didn't have to rebuild a wooden bridge.

They were able to use concrete reinforced with steel the bridge was acclaimed at the time of being an engineering marvel.

Engineers came from all over the country to look at the bridge and to see that in fact you could build a bridge that didn't have any wood in it and they used cement parapets.

The sides of the bridge were cement.

1902 it was horse and buggy.

The streetcars were horse drawn and horses, if they couldn't see over the edge of the bridge they were calmer.

You don't have to worry about the horses getting too excited when they look over the bridge.

If we've learned anything up to this point, it's that change is the only constant when it comes to the Y bridge.

And those cement parapets were not destined to last.

The 1913 flood hit Zanesville hard and washed out many of the bridges across the Muskingum.

The Y bridge survived, but the cement parapets on the side did not.

They had to remove the damaged concrete parapets and replace them with rails.

So the fourth Y bridge from the 19 teens up to 1984 when it was replaced had railing that people could see through.

They could see the river.

If it feels like we're focusing too much on cement parapets, it's for good reason.

The fourth Y bridge was replaced in 1984 by the fifth and current Y bridge, again due to safety concerns with arguably one huge misstep in its design.

They had built the fifth Y bridge the way that the fourth Y bridge looked when it was built, which meant that it had cement sidewalls.

So people that grew up crossing the Y bridge couldn't see the river from the Fifth Y Bridge, and people hated it based to make, you know, very simple.

And there was literally a public outcry because the new Y bridge was not the same as the Y bridge that it replaced.

By the early 1990s, there was so much public outcry that the local government officials had to figure out a way to knock down the concrete and put up railing so that people crossing the bridge could see the river, which brings us to today.

The fifth generation of the Y bridge is still standing, complete with views of the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.

One part practical infrastructure, one part roadside attraction.

It's not surprising that something that's been a fixture in a community for over 200 years should inevitably become a part of that community's pride and identity.

Over the years, we've come to understand that it was a source of connection for communities around the river.

As Zanesville has matured as a community, the Y bridge has has maintained that.It continues to be a source of identity for the community and a way of connecting our people.

So the next time you're in Zanesville, feel free to go out of your way to turn left in the middle of the bridge.