Good Bridges Make Good Neighbors

Good Bridges Make Good Neighbors

Remarks made by Dr. Paul Loatman Jr., Mechanicville City Historian, 
at the Rededication of the Mechanicville-Hemstreet Park Veterans Memorial Bridge,

October 21, 2000

I am honored to be here today, hopeful that my detailing of the history of this bridge can in some small way enhance this rededication ceremony. But, before I get to that, I would like to speak of trolls. Some years ago, when the Stillwater-Schaghticoke bridge was closed for repairs, some residents inconvenienced by that fact attempted to compare the age of that bridge with the age of this one, supposing that their bridge was the younger one on which renovations should not yet be scheduled. As the local historian, I was asked to date the Mechanicville-Hemstreet Park Bridge, and in attempting to be sure of its age, I contacted the state Department of Transportation which informed me that I needed to find the BIN, or Bridge Identification Number, located on the underside of the superstructure at the top of the abutment.

You may recall from your childhood fairy tales that trolls are supernatural creatures, large and small, who live in subterranean areas, often under bridges. Being a brave adult, I was prepared to battle the trolls to find the BIN, and when I did so, I reported it to the state Department of Transportation. Imagine my surprise when they told me that our bridge - which we see before us - was actually located (according to their blueprints) in Stillwater crossing Route 67 into the town of Schaghticoke. Despite my insistence that they were in error, I agreed to revisit the trolls again to confirm the BIN. I did so, and after describing my journey to the netherworld to them, D.O.T.'s credibility in my word increased to the point that they agreed to correct their records and they "relocated" our bridge to its rightful place linking Mechanicville and Hemstreet Park.

Alas, I am sorry to report that the trolls have struck again. In the dark of night, around 3A.M. yesterday, these same creatures got ahold of a printing press and mistitled our program for today's event, "Rededication of the Mechanicville-Stillwater Veteran's Memorial Bridge," apparently shameless in their effort to kidnap our bridge. Well, we are here today to tell you we are not going to let them get away with it. Supervisor Lilac, I have seen your Stillwater bridge, I have crossed your bridge many times, and I can tell you - it's no Mechanicville-Hemstreet Park Veteran's Memorial Bridge by a longshot. We love our bridge, and it is going to stay right here, come trolls or high water.

In a more serious vein, getting from here to there often involves crossing a bridge, in this case, a historical one. Getting from Mechanicville to Hemstreet Park a couple of centuries ago was not an easy task, given that the Hudson River was characterized by rapids below Stillwater for a number of miles. Exactly when a ferry service was implemented is not known, but it appears on area maps as early as the 1880's. The ferry was located essentially in the same place as the current bridge and ran "on demand" when a would-be passenger sounded a horn to get picked up. At night, signaling by snapping the cable which guided the ferry in some arcane code was also required to stir the boatman from his slumber on the eastern shore of the river.

In 1885, the Hudson River Water Power and Paper Co. built the current dam at the old mill site, and given the dam's height, it changed the character of the river here, the water flowing much slower thereafter below the dam. Not only did building a bridge now seem more feasible; with expectations that significant economic expansion would be undertaken here, it made economic sense to do so. Given the unlikelihood that a small community would win public financing from the state for such a project, local businessmen with an eye to the future organized a stock company which raised $20,000 from private investors in 1887 to build a toll bridge which would turn a profit. For reasons which are unclear, there was significant opposition to the proposed toll bridge, possibly motivated by the ferryman and his supporters for whom the new span would mean unemployment. The few officers of the Mechanicville Bridge Co. (W.W. Smith, Horace Medbury, George Moore, and J. Frank Terry) were local businessmen with significant holdings in the new water power and paper company, and Terry was a sometime publisher of a weekly newspaper and prominent attorney here. These investors contracted with the Hilton Bridge Co. of Albany to span the river at a cost of $21,700. The new bridge opened on September 8, 1888, according the The Saratogian, the same date on which the ferry service was ended, arching its way across the river approximately 500 feet south of the current one.

Initially, the Bridge Co. factors earned healthy profits of 20% on their investment, but as the novelty of making the crossing wore off, profits declined to a more modest 2% return. This steady flow of income would continue for twenty-five years. In 1913, State Senator George Whitney, a local pharmacist and power in the Republican Party, successfully guided a bill through the state legislature which repealed the bridge tolls. Formally, the State of New York purchased the franchise rights for twenty-five years, but the tolls were never reimposed again. The original investors were paid $24,506 for surrendering their right to charge for crossing, thus having the original investment repaid to them.

As the Depression came to an end, support for public financing of a new bridge gained favor. In August 1941, the City of Mechanicville, and Saratoga and Rensselaer counties agreed to share the anticipated $182,000 expense it would take to build a new structure, with the City ante-ing up 10% of the cost, the remaining sum split 50% and 40% respectively by Rensselaer and Saratoga counties. Special hearings were held in early August of that year to allow those who opposed moving the bridge site 500 feet to the north. The State Department of Transportation had chosen the new location because of the prevalence of bedrock there, and it was anticipated that a state highway might cross the bridge in the future, an event which we now know would not take place for almost another thirty years. The onset of World War II delayed the building of the bridge itself for nearly a decade, by which time the costs had risen to $419,000, a sum for which the Frank Antolick firm of Schaghticoke was expected to dismantle the old as well as build the new bridge. Ironically, work was scheduled to begin on June 25, 1950, and some of the veterans of World War II, on whose behalf the new span was to be dedicated, found themselves re-enlisting in the military service to fight in the Korean War which erupted that very day.

Despite the intervention of another war, work on the bridge continued unabated, in no small part due to the volunteer efforts of William Dyer, the Hemstreet Park Volunteer Fire Department and the local PTA to conduct research, uncover old maps, and collect needed information to secure the necessary rights-of-way to build the bridge. Although the final touches had not been completed, the opening on the new span was scheduled for October 21, 1950. Both communities on each side of the river organized special activities to mark the event. A community luncheon was held at Joyce's Log Cabin at noon on the appointed day, and following a brief ceremony conducted by area clergymen, bands and parade groups from the City and from the Park met at the center of the bridge where ribbon cutters Lorraine Dyer and Mrs. Margaret Camfield Ryan performed the ceremony for their respective areas. Festivities then continued for the rest of the day at the Hemstreet Park Fire House.

A few last minute details needed to be worked out: the bridge was not re-opened for traffic for another ten days. And, the plaque which was intended to be placed "in the new future" commemorating the veterans for whom the structure was dedicated turned out to be fifty years in the making. That oversight is to be rectified by the ceremony today, being held half a century to the day following the original dedication of the bridge. It is a fitting memorial to all of the veterans from the communities of Hemstreet Park and Mechanicville, an important artery that links our two communities with each other and with a wider world. It is hard to imagine where we would be today without this bridge, just as it is hard to imagine what our society would be like without the dedication and service of our veterans who, besides building this bridge, built a bridge to a better future for their children and grandchildren.

All of us probably recall from our school days the need to memorize the famous lines of Robert Frost: "Good fences make good neighbors." Today, we might want to riposte the good bard by correcting his verse to read: "Good bridges make good neighbors."