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Ross Creek Bridge

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 16, 2025
Entity authorityQ7369258 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ross Creek Bridge is a former railway bridge, now used as a pedestrian walkway in Ross Bridge Park, Hoover, Alabama, United States. The text of the sign posted nearby by the Hoover Historical Society reads as follows:

In 1858 James Taylor Ross, a Scotchman migrated to the South, acquired land and homesteaded in what is now Shades Valley. He provided land for the construction of a Confederate railway, including a bridge spanning Ross Creek. After the Ross family moved westward, his property was purchased in 1907 by TCI, a predecessor of U.S. Steel. In 2002, U.S. Steel, Daniel Corp. and the Retirement Systems of Alabama combined to develop the community of Ross Bridge.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Ross Creek Bridge” as open-knowledge reference entry. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ross, Creek and Bridge.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1858, 1907, 2002—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ross, Creek and Bridge providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Ross Creek Bridge”, the useful work is to connect “open-knowledge reference entry” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7369258. Authority coordinates are 33.606, -85.589. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1858, 1907 and 2002.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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  2. Expand the search: follow Ross Creek Bridge primary sources, Ross Creek Bridge archive and Ross research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ross Creek Bridge” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.