Overhead Bridge Construction

Here’s our present overhead bridge under construction in about 1948. It was opened for traffic in the fall of 1949. I remember well watching the workers build this bridge from scratch as I sat in my eight-grade classroom. Instead of doing my class assignments I would gaze out the window at all the activity. I guess that’s why I spent the best three years of my life in that eight grade. I was about twelve at the time of this photo and I remember cycling up there to the end of the roadway and crawling to the edge to hang over and look down the smoke stacks of the tankers sailing under.

Bridge Destruction, Close-up View

Bridge Destruction, Close-up View

This is what I saw that afternoon after the ship hit our bridge. The Franz Klassen was a German ship and this was during the Second World War, thus some people suspected sabotage. This was not the case, however, because the ship had been taken over by the USA. Notice the derrick barge and, at left, the Ericsson Line building.

The Chesapeake City Lift Bridge Destruction

Here is a south view of the bridge damage by the tanker, Franz Klassen. The ship smashed into the south tower at 11:38 AM on Tuesday, July 28^th, 1942. I was six years old and playing outside on our farm, which was about a quarter mile south of the bridge. I heard the crash and looked in and saw that the familiar bridge towers were not there. That evening after work my father took me in to see the destruction. He parked very close so we could see all the black steel lying across the ship’s bow. This aerial view shows parts of north and south Chesapeake City. Notice the old buildings on Lock Street and George Street. At left is the City Dock area (now Pell Gardens).

Helen Titter on the Lift Bridge

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: Teacher on the Lift Bridge

Posing here on the lift bridge is my remarkable sixth grade teacher, Helen Titter. She was supposed to have been an excellent swimmer. She used to meet a friend at Randalia by swimming all the way down Back Creek with the outgoing tide; she would visit long enough for the tide to change before catching it back home to Chesapeake City. She was a super teacher. I remember her spelling tests every Friday and the way she used to play the piano and have us sing. Every so often she would even check our teeth.

North view of the lift bridge

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: North View of Lift Bridge

This is a 1941 north view of the lift bridge. The small house there just left of the bridge was where the operators stayed to raise and lower the span. At far left is the Rio Theater and above the car is the front of Jumping Jim’s barber shop. At right is the sign for Shine Crawford’s Gulf station. I remember being here with my father in his ’41 Ford and waiting there by Jumping Jim’s for the span to lower so we could cross on our way to Elkton. My dad said: “Well, boy, you see those huge weights? When they start going up that’ll bring the road-way down, and when they reach the top we’ll be able to cross.”

Lift bridge, north west view

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: The Lift Bridge

Seated here on the porch of the Harriot Hotel (now the Bayard House) is John Breza, who helped to build the lift bridge he’s looking at. This is a North West view so you can just make out Schaefer’s store and restaurant in the distance. This porch has been renovated and is now enclosed. The photo is circa 1940.

Canal bridges in the Chesapeake City area – circa 1907 – 1949: The Lift Bridge

This is a south west view of the lift bridge that opened for traffic in 1926. Notice the heavy weight at right. There was one at left also (out of the picture). These weights balanced the structure somewhat, allowing less stress on the electric motor that powered the raising and lowering of the span. In the distance stands the Masonic Hall and above that on the span is the shack from which men used to operate the bridge. After a ship destroyed the St. Georges bridge in 1939 (killing Mr. Oaks and Mr. Quinn), our bridge was operated from a small building on the South Side.