Some more thoughts on the Bay Bridge’s birthday

26 Mar

I’ve said this before, but it always surprises me how many people enjoy my blogs about local history.

Case in point, the recent History Bit piece I wrote about the Irondequoit Bay Bridge. It celebrated a birthday in February, and I commemorated the occasion with a quick look back at when it was built.

Even though I posted it two weeks ago, it continues to get at least a few hits every day, and has received a lot of interesting and amusing comments. I want to thank everyone who chimed in, and would like to share a few of those comments today. (Make sure to read all the way to the end to see the special email I got this morning.)

  • Cindy Frank wrote, “I have pics from construction of the bridge … My dad would drive to Dewitt Rd. and we’d walk down to construction area.” 
  • Ralph Derleth and his grandpa watched from Point Pleasant while carp fishing.
  • Several people report having driven over the bridge before it was officially open. Ralph Derleth, Brian Hegedorn, Tom McCoy, and Don and Judy Herman reportedly it on snowmobiles.
  • George Baker remembers “driving around the barricades of the unopened new bridge and testing the limits of the speedometer of my GTO, more than once.”
  • Linda Abson remembers that her neighbor on Oneida Lake, Bob Patriage, was one of the engineers on the project. He passed away two years ago at age 98.
  • Carol Lindquist posted, “I grew up next to the bridge, my parents took us down to walk on it. One time we took our bikes and I rode my tricycle across it. My mom told me a story: Our first house was on the original Inspiration Point Road which was bought by the state. Our house was put on a trailer and moved all the way across Webster to John Glen Blvd. My mom was driving down the road and had to pull to the side for an oversized load, it was our house! We built a new house in the new Inspiration Pt. Rd.”
  • Nell Herman did some research, and reported, “I Googled the little boy that was taken across the bridge to the hospital. It looks like he became a detective. It looks like he followed in the footsteps of that police officer who made the decision to drive across the bridge.”
  • Dave McKibben sent along this nice story: “My mom told me a funny story of when this was being built… Her grandfather lived close by and would go down to the construction site and “take his tools back.” After realizing he had dementia, the workers would come to his house before their shift to “borrow his tools.” Some would even play along enough to return them after their shift. It was a different time back then…”

Finally, I just heard this morning from Mary Alice Moore, the mother of the little boy with the medical emergency who was transported across the bridge that cold morning. She wrote,

That little boy that was taken across the bridge to save his life was my son, Kevin Lohse. It was one of the scariest days of my life. It happened a couple days after his first birthday. I always checked on him and his sister if I got up in the night. When I checked Kevin he was barely breathing and had a very high temperature. Immediately called 911. His bedroom was upstairs but for some reason my husband carried him downstairs to the dining room table and started giving him mouth to mouth.

The first policeman that arrived minutes after we called almost passed out when he saw Kevin. I think he must have been very young and new on the job. Yes, they made the quick decision to open the barricade to get to Rochester General quickly in order to save his life.

I am convinced that I found Kevin as he was experiencing SDS. We came home from the hospital the same day and he was fine after the temperature came down. Only God knows for sure! Kevin and I participated in the ribbon cutting of the Bay Bridge that summer! Yes in fact Kevin is a detective in Ohio.

Do you have some memories from when the Bay Bridge was built? Add a comment on my blog or on my Facebook post!

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(posted 3/26/2024)

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