Welcome to this week’s edition of Old Photo Friday. To we have a photo that likely dates to 1928-1929, unlike the date stamped on the back of the photo “April 15, 1930”. The Bridge opened November 11, 1929.
According to this brief history of the Bridge, because the Bridge opened ahead of schedule there was a deal where the Bridge owner would split the revenues with McClintic-Marshall, the company who constructed the bridge 50%/50% between the opening and April 16, 1930.
The date on the back of the photo is the day prior, meaning the story/photo likely ran the next day. Perhaps a story about how the profit sharing deal was expiring with the builders?
Regardless of the reason, it’s an interesting photo all the same…
Have a safe weekend everyone, see you back here Monday.
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The bridge looked infinitely better dressed in black–never understood or appreciated the switch to blue (if you can call it blue) in the late 1990s.
The story I heard… not sure if it’s true or not… The Teal was chosen because it was not black. That way Mr. Maroun could easily track the progress and rate of speed of the project from afar.
I have heard the same thing that Andrew did. I like the teal colour better than black. It doesn’t seem so harsh especially when looking towards Detroit; with all of the freight cars in the train yard.
Interesting to see so many trees and no stupid highways on the USA side.
Awesome. I have often wondered, “how’d they do it?” – would love to see more pics.
Too bad the train station would never be completed — at least it was in its prime at the time of the photo. The steam/smoke at the top of the building (assuming it is not a mark on the photograph) really brings it to life, for me.
Thanks for the photos. Amazing stuff. Has anybody written the definitive history of the bridge? I’ve looked for a book before and couldn’t come up with much at the library. Perhaps in your spare time Andrew you could put something together;)
Some years ago their was a book about the bridge, written by a professor at Wanye State. It had a lot of photos, and imformation.
The book was at the library in Riverside branch and possibbly others
The train station was fuly funchional to the end of passenger trains operating from it, they then used a trailer nearby until moving to the New Center area.
Some upper floors for office space where not finished.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clcQk76-N2k
Part one – there are several others.
I also heard that teal was chosen as it is the cheapest paint to buy in large quantities.
However, I do think that would be brown, as you could mix every type of leftover bits to make brown.
The Bridge was better in black. Perhaps when Windsor-Detroit’s own Citizen Kane finally dies, we’ll go back to making some sense with our old bridge.
I think the office tower of the train station was never occupied as planned. The builders thought the station would spur growth in that direction from downtown, but it never happened, as a result the station was isolated from the get-go. Just too remote. If the tower were not there, and only the station remained, it would not be such an eye-sore from a long distance. Airplanes finally killed train travel in much of the US. Trains seem to only be profitable where air travel is not practical, like 1-2 hour trips. Also massive govt subsidies help. And I like trains. It’s not like Europe was without tons of airfields after WW2. Anyway, nice pics of the bridge, hopefully we won’t see the bridge looking like again, the deck having fallen into the river!
Has the Ambassador Bridge ever undergone any major renovation? Obviously the road has been re-surfaced many times by now, but I mean any significant structural upgrades? To think that it was built in the late 1920s and now has modern transport trucks and trailer not just crossing, but sitting on it all hours of the day is mind boggling. There must have been some significant improvements to it, I’m thinking.
Jane, thanks for that video link. I’ll be watching the rest of those, when I get a chance. It was weird to see those guys taking the houses down board-by-board.
Uzzy only thing I can think of is the addition of the teal paint, which I highly doubt add anything to the structure.