Editor's note: This story was produced for the ear and designed to be heard. If you're able, WCMU encourages you to listen to the audio version of this story by clicking the LISTEN button above. This transcript was edited for clarity and length.
Jaden Gibson: After years of taking ferries to travel between Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas, a bridge that many engineers said would never work... finally became a reality. As people prepare to walk the Mighty Mac this coming Labor Day, WCMU's Tina Sawyer takes us on a journey back to 1958 to learn more about the dedication of the iconic Mackinac Bridge.
Music: "I was born in Michigan. And I wish and wish again... to go back..." (Irving Berlin's song "I Want to Go Back to Michigan" performed by Billy Murray, 1914)
Tina Sawyer: One doesn't have to be born in Michigan to know about the Mackinac Bridge. Many tourists as well as Michiganders have been visiting the Might Mac since it's official opening on November 1st, 1957.
But, I wanted to hear what it was like around the time it opened. So, I made a call to Central Michigan University's Clarke Historical Library. I asked archivist Bryan Whitledge if there was any audio documentation from the moment the bridge opened.
After a few days of searching, Whitledge said he could only find one compact disc that held a recording of a vinyl record, but with the bridge dedication presentation that took place seven months after the 1957 opening, June 27th and 28th of 1958.
The recorded event was produced by radio station WSOO out of Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. An unnamed narrator and on-scene announcer, presumably from WSOO, leads the recorded presentation.
Narrator: This is a moment of dedication of the Mackinac Bridge, a poem in steel and concrete, a web of steel uniting the two peninsulas of Michigan. This is a moment of dedication to the nation.
Radio announcer: We are speaking to you from Mackinac City, the southern approach to the Mackinac Bridge, on the eve of the official dedication ceremonies of this mightiest of all bridges. The Mackinac Bridge stretches more than five miles across the Straits of Mackinac. And tonight, thousands of lights sparkle from the graceful beginning of the approaches to the main towers. Towers 552 feet above the water. Showers of fireworks... every color of the rainbow, like a million flashbulbs in Technicolor, reveal the tremendous size of the Mackinac Bridge.
Automobiles are slowly crossing the bridge, their headlights adding to this cascade of color. Thousands of cars are jammed on both approaches to the bridge, and thousands of others line the streets...
TS: Festivities continued into the next day, July 28th of 1958, as politicians and special speakers were on hand to dedicate the enormous span.
One speaker, was a man better known as the "Father of the Mackinac Bridge"... Prentice M. Brown. Brown was the chairman of the Mackinac Bridge Authority at the time that led the effort to fund the bridge through revenue bonds instead of taxes. This made the construction of the bridge fiscally possible. Here he describes how special the structure is.
Prentiss Brown: The graceful catenary of the [unintelligible] cables are a delight to the eye as they mount from the deep-set foundation on the south, up and over the tall towers, across the wide channel, and on down again to this mass of concrete on which we now stand.
TS: Michigan's governor in 1958 was G. Mennen Williams. Williams also helped get the project funded and speaks on the importance of having a direct connection between two sides of the state.
G. Mennen Williams: At long last, after nearly 100 years of dreaming about a physical link between our two peninsulas, the Mackinac Bridge is a reality. Michigan is at last, fully and literally, one state.
TS: Over 3,500 construction workers from American Bridge Division and Merritt-Chapman and Scott Corporation were behind the on-site build of the Mackinac Bridge...five of them losing their lives. And over 7,500 workers from United States Steel.
And Roger M. Blau from the United States Steel Company takes to the microphone next to showcase those men and women who created the large cables, towers, girders and beams that pieced together Michigan's greatest connection.
Roger M. Blau: Commendation of those many men who poured the metal, and fabricated the members of this mighty bridge, those who drew the wire, and spun the cable that secures this bridge over the straits, and those who supplied the skills and intrepidity that were necessary to erect this towering structure.
TS: But the Mighty Mac would have never come to be without the daring engineer behind the design of the massive structure: Dr. David B. Steinman. Back in the 1950's, there were no Computer Aided Design programs. Engineers put pen to paper and relied on advanced math and physical modeling to put work in motion. And Steinman was one of the best using those skills to design suspension bridges. Steinman can be heard here regarding how the Mackinac Bridge was his crowning achievement.
David B. Steinman: Today we are celebrating a dream come true. With the aid of divine providence, our dream of years has been fulfilled. In humility and reverence, we dedicate this work of faith, and with pride we behold what vision, courage, and determination have brought (applause).
TS: More speakers also commemorated the day including one who read a letter from the United States President at the time, Dwight D. Eisenhower. In it he describes the vision and labor of the Mackinac Bridge as a "symbol of American character."
This dedication ceremony, June 28th of 1958, was the final rivet in the project the engineering world said couldn't be accomplished and was proven otherwise.
We now return to the recording from WSOO where the narrator ends our journey to the dedication of what he says is one of the nation's greatest achievements.
Narrator: This is the heroic saga of the Mackinac Bridge. Generations dreamed the crossing. Doubters shook their heads in scorn. Brave men vowed that they would build it. From their faith, the bridge was born. There it spans the miles of water, speeding millions on their way. Bridge of vision... Hope and courage... a portal to a brighter day!
Radio announcer: The $100 million pride of Michigan... the Mackinac Bridge!
Music: Organ music playing instrumental version of "Our Country Tis of Thee" with fireworks bursting in background.
Special thanks to Bryan Whitledge of Central Michigan University's Clarke Historical Library for research assistance on this story.
