History of the grand Island Bridges
In l928 the Buffalo and Niagara Port Authority, which Senator Freiberg had helped to create, recommended the building of bridges to Grand Island. This recommendation was bitterly opposed by the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, the late Mayor Schwab and Samuel Abotsford. Their opposition was powerful enough to influence Governor Alfred E. Smith to veto a bill carrying out the ideas of the Port Authority.
Another bill was passed by the State Legislature giving a private company the right to build a bridge to Grand Island. Many islanders opposed this bill because they believed that a bridge should be free after it was paid for. They did not want a bridge company such as the Peace Bridge group to be collecting bridge tolls forever. William H. Conboy was one of the groups who spoke against the bill in Albany. Governor Smith vetoed it.
Above left: Driving the first pile for the bridge in December 1933.
Top right: Work as it appeared on December 9, and below – in May 1934.
The first tangible progress on the bridge came in 1929 with the creation of the Niagara Frontier Bridge Commission. The legislation creating this group was sponsored by Senator Freiberg and signed by Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. The bill named the members of the commission and appropriated $50,000 to the group to enable it to secure plans for financing the bridges.
The next year the State Legislature appropriated $2,000,000 to be paid in four annual installments of $500,000 to the bridge commission. The commission could raise money by the sale of bonds. The counties of Erie and Niagara were allowed to purchase bonds on the same basis as the state. Erie County purchased $800,00 in four annual installments while Niagara County purchased $200,000.
The Swartz bill, drafted by Commissioner Robert Moses, state representative of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, passed the Legislature in 1933. This measure pave the way for the $2,880,000 loan from the R. F. C. Robert Moses became an enthusiastic supporter of the bridge. Former Governor Alfred E. Smith gave his active support to the project, as did Speaker Joseph A. McGinnus. The ground was broken for the south bridge on October 28, 1933. At long last, in early July 1935, the bridges were completed. After more than a century of talk and discussion Grand Island was connected to the mainland of the United States, not by one, but by two bridges.
Island residents marked the opening of the bridges with a celebration on July 13, 1935. The town folk and their friends assembled at the Town Hall, where a long procession of automobiles formed. A band led the procession toward the south bridge, through the Tonawandas to Niagara Falls, then over the north bridge to Edgewater Park. The speakers at the park included John L. Mesmer, the supervisor, Arthur L. Swartz, Charles Freiberg, Reginald F. Long and Franklin St. John Sidway. Mr. Sidway paid tribute to William H. Conboy, a former supervisor who was unable to be present, as the man who had worked unceasingly for thirty-seven years to secure a bridge. A buffet supper was served to more than 2,000 persons.
The island bridges were officially dedicated July 15, l935, by Governor Herbert Lehman. Jesse Jones, chairman of the R. F. C. spoke briefly as did Robert Moses, commissioner of the State Council of Parks, and Colonel Frederick S. Greene, state superintendent of public works.
The bridges have been a financial success. Thousands of motorists have used them as a short cut to Niagara Falls. Other thousands have used them to reach Beaver Island State Park. There is no more beautiful drive in the Buffalo area than the West River Parkway, due to be completed in this centennial year. Because of the bridges many people now can enjoy the beauties of the island, or relive in imagination some of the stirring events of the past.
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