Results tagged “Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge” from York Town Square

The village of Spry in York Township, Pa., is the home of Goodwill Fire Company, which supplied the ladder truck so that Almar the Professional Idiot could demonstrate his escape from a straight jacket. Almar kicked off the Dallastown Halloween Parade about a decade ago and was captured in this York Daily Record file photo. (See additional photos below.) Background posts: 19th-century mines gave Ore Valley its name and York County one-room schools: 'That's when things were good' and Forgotten York Valley Inn may be rediscovered.

Bonnie Stiles has provided family information that confirms details in a previous York Town Square post about the toll gate that operated at Leader Heights Road and South Queen Street in Spry.

The gate pivoted up and down on the west side of Queen Street, across the street from present-day Tollgate Village.

"When my paternal great-grandmother (Estella Mae Markey Sechrist) was alive she told me she used to run the 'toll gate' on S. Queen Street," Bonnie Stiles wrote.

"Apparently her husband, my great-grandfather (Norman Sechrist) ran a wagon from Red Lion to York every day. They claim he had something to do with tobacco."

Those were the days, less than 100 years ago, when toll roads still radiated from York... .

This photograph shows bridge supports running alongside Veterans Memorial Bridge, sometimes called the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. An urban legend persists concerning the 1930 Veterans Bridge. Background posts: A rehabbed, lit up Columbia-Wrightsville bridge: 'It'll really be a dramatic view' and A 7th bridge? Pedestrian walkway may span Susquehanna River some day and Almost ... a double deck bridge across the Susquehanna River.

A worker constructing the new bridge connecting Wrightsville with Columbia fell into freshly set concrete. His body was never retrieved, and he is entombed in a bridge support to this day.

Jim Fahringer has raised this on-again, off-again claim in a comment to the recent post: Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge celebrates quiet birthday... .

This photo from John Wright restaurant in Wrightsville, Pa., is undated but it must come from the late 1920s because the Veterans Memorial Bridge opened in 1930. Notice the now-dismantled older bridge to the left and the temporary, construction bridge on the downstream side. Background posts: Wrightsville's overlooked attractions and When did Wrightsville ferry service end? and Nature had its way with short-lived York Furnace Bridge in southeastern York County.

A recent York Daily Record/Sunday News story on the restoration of lighting on the old Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, known as the Veterans Memorial Bridge, brought applause from a commenter.

|"To me, the decision to restore the bridge is a no brainer," he wrote. "Let's do it!"

He also raised the question about when tolls were lifted from the Depression-era structure which carried the Lincoln Highway across the Susquehanna River:

Flames shoot from a grill atop a pier from the bridge that the Union Army burned in 1863 to stop the Confederate advance. Two subsequent bridges used those same now-empty piers. In recent years, re-enactors have simulated the burning of the bridge as an observance of this milestone in local history. Scott Mingus has penned a history, 'Flames Beyond Gettysburg' that tells about that moment when Confederate Gen. John B. Gordon's raid reached the west bank of the Susquehanna. Background posts: New Lincoln blog category introduced to honor Abe's 200th birthday and History-making evening on rebel occupation of York could turn into daylong symposium and Mayor of York, Pa.: 'We are no longer unprotected'.

Scott Mingus writes many memorable stories in his new book on the Confederate occupation of York County.

But he provides one quote that creates an image that will never leave your mind.

Here's what one Union cavalryman later observed about the rebels' charge at the bridge linking Wrightsville and Columbia in late June 1863:

"One old negro to whom was entrusted the duty of igniting the fuse sat very coolly on the edge of the pier, smoking a cigar."

York Daily Record/Sunday News photographer Paul Kuehnel captured this award-winning photo of ice upon ice at Long Level along the Susquehanna River in the blizzard of 1996. That blizzard hit on Jan. 8, 1996, and it dropped 30 to 36 inches of snow. Businesses closed for a week. Municipalities exhausted their annual snow removal budgets in five days. (See additional photo below). Background posts: Susquehanna bridge makeover flowing along, Doctor made house calls in blizzards and Newspaper Web site introduced in blizzard.

"I remember opening my front door of our home and only seeing a couple inches of our antenna of our car."

That's how West Manchester Township's Gary Huber described one of the York County blizzards of the 1990s.

"I also remember no one was supposed to be on the street, because everything was shut down by the mayor. We, the maintenance department of York City schools, were asked to report to work the best way we could. Roads were hardly open, schools were closed for a week, which is about how long it took us to clear all the pavement," he said.

This discussion on snow and ice started when Jim Buckner shared slides of a major Susquehanna River ice breakup in 1959, and images found their way into the York Town Square post: For years, folks have eyed amazing, destructive Susquehanna River ice jams. ...

This 2006 aerial photograph shows bridge supports running alongside Veterans Memorial Bridge, sometimes called the Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge. These piers supported three bridges over the Susquehanna River, including the famed covered bridge that Union militia burned in 1863 to stop the invading Confederate advance. The last bridge to use the empty piers was demolished for scrap in the 1960s. Three bridges used these supports. Background posts: Urban legend? The day a bulldozer sank from sight and Almost ... a double deck bridge across the Susquehanna?.

Plans are moving ahead for rehabbing Veterans Memorial Bridge spanning the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville.

That will include new lights above and below the bridge deck.

Which reminds me of a favorite observation about the bridge and the empty piers running to its north.

The 1930-era Veterans bridge supports line up directly with the bridge-less 1830s piers. As you drive over the 1970-era Wright's Ferry Bridge and look south, you'll see the exact match.

Accident or design?