Fine New Bridge Is Thrown Open with Ceremony, The Pittsburg Press, 9 August 1915.
Unusual splendor marked the exercises attending the opening to traffic of the new Northside Point bridge this afternoon. As it connects the Manchester and lower Northside districts with the downtown section, Mayor Armstrong has officially christened the structure the Manchester bridge. Mayor Armstrong, Director of Public Works Swan, the members of the city council and a number of other city and county officials, with prominent business and professional men of the Northside, took part in the ceremonies. The speakers at the opening exercises included the mayor, Councilman Goehring, William S. Poe and Charles W. Dahlinger.
A big parade was the outstanding feature of the ceremonies. Mayor Armstrong who was director of public works at the time work was started on the bridge and the incumbent of that office, Robert Swan, led the procession. Following them were members of council and other city and county officials.
Automobiles led the parade, motor trucks were next in line, and a large number of decorated wagons followed. The parade started from Chateau st. and Pennsylvania ave. The route was to Blevins st., to Beaver ave., to Reedsdale st., to Allegheny ave., to South ave., to Water st., back to the new bridge, and to South ave., where the paraders disbanded.
Autoists in Line.
All gasoline pleasure cars formed in Chateau st. between Pennsylvania ave. and Sheffield st. Automobile trucks assembled at Fayette and Chateau sts., and wagons in Seymour st. between Beaver ave. and Metropolitan ave.The ceremonies were in charge of the Northside board of trade, which delegated chief authority to a bridge committee consisting of R. E. Thorne, chairman; Adam Hoffman, R. Solomon, Peter Stumpf and William H. Richey.
A special committee that assisted Chairman Thorne in making arrangements consisted of George L. Cruikshank, Thomas H. Porter, P. E. Roos, Fred M. Geyer, George A. Young, Charles Newhart, T. S. Williams, J. C. Eber, G. M. Love, J. J. Munn, W. A. Seiling, T. C. Van Kirk, A. M. Hartzell, J. O'Brien, F. C. Ubinger, Herman Brinckman, Robert K. Cochrane, A. Yahn, Walter Shook, F. F. McBride, Joseph L. Blattner, Thomas Emminger, W. C. Riley, James Kelly, John Hanley, Jr., E. Frederick, M. D. Yant, J. C. Kaiser, J. A. McConnell, C. A. Fischer, R. Frank.
Northside, particularly the old Manchester section was in gala attire for the occasion, the actual dedication ceremony taking place at the north end of the bridge.
Following an order by the United States government for the removal of the old Union bridge, a $1,000,000 bond issue for a new bridge was approved by the voters of the city on Nov. 3, 1908. In July, 1910, bids were received for work on the three main piers, but a Supreme Court decree nullified the bond issue.
Another bond issue was approved in November, 1910, and work on the piers was started on April 5, 1911. Work on the approaches and the paving of the spans was delayed owing to a mixup in ordinances introduced into the council by the art commission and work on these features was not begun until the first of the present year.
The Mayor's Speech.
Mayor Armstrong spoke in part:
After the removal of the old Union bridge by order of the United States government, the question of rebuilding the same by the city was agitated by parties concerned and at the general election held Nov. 3, 1908, the question of increasing the city's indebtedness by the amount of $1,000,000 for the purpose of constructing a bridge at this point was affirmatively carried. In the early part of the year 1909, $60,000 worth of bonds were sold to cover the cost of engineering and preliminary work of preparing plans which were immediately started. A contract was advertised and bids received during July 1910, for the building of the three main piers. Before this contract was awarded the Supreme court rendered a decision nullifying the issuance of bonds, which necessarily stopped all work on this improvement.At the general election held Nov. 8, 1910, the question of issuing the bonds was resubmitted to the people and affirmatively approved. March 13, 1911, bills were received for the building of the three main piers, the contract for which was awarded on March 23, 1911. Work on these piers was started April 5, 1911, and completed on Sept. 9, 1912. On Aug. 11, 1911, bids were received for the construction of the two main steel spans, contract being awarded on Aug. 16, 1911. The actual erection work on the site being started on July 23, 1912, and completed on Nov. 5, 1913.
During the summer of 1911 plans were started for the approaches. During the latter part of the year an art commission was appointed to whom all plans for work had to be submitted for approval. In the latter part of the year this commission had introduced into council ordinances which authorized the advertisement for and submission of competitive plans for the approaches, which necessarily acted in a manner as to stop the work which the department was performing on these plans and it was not until April 29, 1913, that the legislation had passed to such an extent as to permit the department proceeding with the preparation of plans for the approaches. The work was advertised and the first bids received on July 15, 1913, but owing to the fact that all bids exceeded the amount of money available for the construction of approaches, the same had to be rejected and the plans all reprepared and readvertised. Bids on the revised plans were received on Nov. 3, 1913, contract was awarded on Dec. 22, 1913, and construction work begun on Jan. 9, 1914. Plans were then prepared for the paving of the main spans and approaches, contract for which was awarded on Dec. 20, 1914 and work started in the early part of the present year.
The frequent raising of the rivers delayed the building of the piers a considerable length of time and it became necessary to grant the contractors a six months extension of time. Then again when the art commission organized, they raised objections to the design of the portals of the bridge, causing a delay for months; had their ideas been put into effect, it would have been necessary to have an additional $200,000 appropriated to complete the job, which council could not see its way clear to provide. While these disputes were being adjusted, winter came along, throwing the work over another working season.
During the entire construction of this structure the contractors have achieved a very marked success in the fact that there has not been a single life lost and very few accidents have occurred which resulted in seriously maiming any of the employees.