Produced in 1953 by Bethlehem Steel Company, this documentary shows the creation of the Chesapeake Bay bridge in Maryland. Transferred with sound from 16mm.
The heroism displayed by the workers during construction is nearly without parallel at present. Returning from WW2, these men carried the 'can-do' attitude that built much of what we enjoy to this very day. Having grown up on the shores of the bay, we enjoyed the harvest bounty of seafood from it. After the bridge was built, though we saw a sharp decrease in some species we had previously enjoyed, such as the 'hard-head' or croaker fish. Not sure if anyone has studied this phenom. I went to school in Sparrows Point and often marveled at the site, on a clear day, looking down the bay from the windows of the school bus, at the original span that was clearly visible for some 20 miles away. It is/was a feat of engineering and courage. That span made possible the uniting of the 2 sides of Maryland in a way that was before impossible. I knew a fellow who moved over to the eastern side (Queenstown) and commuted several times each day with his ice cream truck to sell in the suburban areas of Annapolis. Commerce grew every year for so many and was the catalyst for Ocean City going from a small sleepy village to a major ocean resort. In the early years, after the bridge was built, it was possible to sample the lifestyles of those who had been isolated on the eastern shore. I can remember stopping along the way to the ocean for sweet potato pie and homemade bbq chicken at roadside stands. The folks on that side seemed to lead a simpler life back then. I think much of that was lost, though afterwards.
When I was about 5 years old I traveled via ferry across the Chesapeake. The bridge was still under construction but was almost completed. My dad talked to me about the difficulty of construction.
Back in the late 80’s my buddy and I would share the driving from Baltimore to Ocean City across the bridge. My then girlfriend/ex-fiancé and I would make the trip across after I met her. Can’t swim.....hated that drive. Bridge was a modern marvel for the time and quite an achievement, but driving across that bridge is scary. The men who built it had nerves of steel and balls of iron and bet everyone of them has passed. The greatest generation.
Reading this as a sophomore civil engineering major makes me so excited. When I was 6 I would be watching the same exact kinds of things (and still do lol). We may have a future Civil Engineer!!
Damn this is history right here.. Me and my cousin are the only ones that I know that love going across this bridge. Everyone else I know are terrified and I think I know why. It's because the road doesn't have any shoulders, so when you ride along the bridge it fills like you are going to go over the side.
Wow this was great! Thank you for sharing this . I drive across it every week for work and have made over 900 trips . Always one of my favorite parts of the week!.
Fascinating story ... I've crossed that bridge more than a hundred times (and sailed under it once), but now I can appreciate all that went into its construction (and muse on the fact that it's older than I am, but just by a year or so). It went from a two-way bridge to an eastbound bridge in 1973, when Maryland completed a parallel three-lane westbound span to its north -- with one reversible lane for Friday-night congestion, when the eastbound traffic overwhelms the two eastbound lanes. This is awkward at best and dangerous at worst, and the Eastern Shore politicos are agitating for "more bridge" -- they want both spans replaced with an eight-lane bridge, but Maryland's Governor Hogan feels that the right answer is to build a third span. Seems to me that a three-lane eastbound bridge south of the 1952 bridge would work, allowing the old bridge to switch from eastbound Friday to westbound Sunday. But we can expect the Gubmint to pursue the most expensive, wasteful, and over-engineered answer.
As an apprentice carpenter/piledriver this video is really cool. It is amazing what man can do with basic hand tools, a level, string line and torch and welding machine.
Been over it many times. The first time was the Sunday after it opened. Before the Bridge was completed, my family took the ferry to and from the eastern shore. I must be older than dirt!
@@deltaboy767 it only has 2 lanes and both of the bridges are constantly a bottleneck for traffic. They were looking into doing a feasibility study for a new bridge to replace both, but I’m guessing that has been shelved or cancelled after the key bridge collapse
@@theresalwaystrainsintetonv69 Have you ever been across the Golden Gate bridge? It's also 2 lane in one direction and 2 lanes In the other, and it was built in 1918. Well over 100 years and still serving it's purpose.
That's my "landmark" when I'm sailing up (or down) the Chesapeake Bay. We call it "The Bridge That Never Gets There," because (at sailing speed 5 kts or so) you see it HOURS before you actually sail under it. Another "Bridge That Never Gets There" is the Francis Scott Key Bridge just outside of Baltimore Harbor.
@@ChesapeakeBay89 My schooner's docked at Fell's Point now. After all this COVID crap, I'm gonna' do a bit of a "refurb"/refit and hope to be sailing to Rock Hall at least once a month. Waterman's restaurant and the Harbor Shack restaurant are both GREAT places for seafood or any other kind of chow in Rock Hall. Also, Rock Hall's annual Pirate Weekends used to be the stuff of legend, too. The organizers say they plain to start building them up again in the post-COVID world.
I drove over that bridge for the first time in 1988. It terrified me. Long after I left the DC area, I took my wife and then 3 year old to Ocean City. I drove over that bridge in a windy rainstorm. I almost made the steering wheel pop, I held it so hard.
The issue with the first bridge was it was to small (no emergency lanes). Also the suspension bride section's road deck is boxed in with beams and they obstructs the view of the bay.
Ever since then it has become one of the most scariest bridges to cross in America. But i like this design, and its construction. On the shores it gives a nice view of the bridge from here.
Prior to 9/11, they would close one of the spans for a few hours every year on a day in May for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk/Run. I made the 4 mile trek every year.
Wow! At 6:55 there's a real "steam shovel" (crane). I wonder if it was a Keystone? My grandfather operated one of those. I met an old guy in Florida who was operating one when it tipped over and the firebox dumped onto his leg. He lived for many years after that, but the skin on his legs was a mess.
Not enough credit given to the captains of the barges carrying those huge spans in unison, to ensure everything went together as planned. Nor to the crane operators who had to control the raising and lowering of the spans as they dealt with the ever changing waves. Also does anyone know how many died building the bridge?
You are right. China is the master infrastructure country in the world. They could build a new bridge in a year while we would take at least twice that long. But we can get your burger and fries in five minutes. We have become dumb, gun crazy and shallow.
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
@@tommymartin4827 I searched it up and doesn't look like it. This was probably promotional anyways, they wanted people to know about it and pay the tolls.
@@squire87 Bethlehem Steel had a large film library which was used for in-corporate use. They also loaned films to the public via Modern Talking Pictures service. AT the time of Bethlehem's closure I suggested to the curator at the National Canal Museum in nearby Easton that he should look into their films. As a result everything was donated and for my work I was given prints when there were duplicates, including this film. Like yourself I used to record audio on tape and later video.
@@ronz101 According to the film's opening title card, Copyright belonged to BS in 1953. Of course that was 70 years so it may very well have fallen into the public domain by now.
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It Figures the oldest footage still gives the best coverage and description. Thanks😊
The heroism displayed by the workers during construction is nearly without parallel at present. Returning from WW2, these men carried the 'can-do' attitude that built much of what we enjoy to this very day. Having grown up on the shores of the bay, we enjoyed the harvest bounty of seafood from it. After the bridge was built, though we saw a sharp decrease in some species we had previously enjoyed, such as the 'hard-head' or croaker fish. Not sure if anyone has studied this phenom. I went to school in Sparrows Point and often marveled at the site, on a clear day, looking down the bay from the windows of the school bus, at the original span that was clearly visible for some 20 miles away. It is/was a feat of engineering and courage.
That span made possible the uniting of the 2 sides of Maryland in a way that was before impossible. I knew a fellow who moved over to the eastern side (Queenstown) and commuted several times each day with his ice cream truck to sell in the suburban areas of Annapolis. Commerce grew every year for so many and was the catalyst for Ocean City going from a small sleepy village to a major ocean resort. In the early years, after the bridge was built, it was possible to sample the lifestyles of those who had been isolated on the eastern shore. I can remember stopping along the way to the ocean for sweet potato pie and homemade bbq chicken at roadside stands. The folks on that side seemed to lead a simpler life back then. I think much of that was lost, though afterwards.
excellent writing!
When I was about 5 years old I traveled via ferry across the Chesapeake. The bridge was still under construction but was almost completed. My dad talked to me about the difficulty of construction.
Built for Maryland, in Maryland! The bay bridge, the “Gray Lady” of the Chesapeake!
Back in the late 80’s my buddy and I would share the driving from Baltimore to Ocean City across the bridge. My then girlfriend/ex-fiancé and I would make the trip across after I met her. Can’t swim.....hated that drive. Bridge was a modern marvel for the time and quite an achievement, but driving across that bridge is scary. The men who built it had nerves of steel and balls of iron and bet everyone of them has passed. The greatest generation.
Watched with my 6 year old grandson. He loves engineering.
Reading this as a sophomore civil engineering major makes me so excited. When I was 6 I would be watching the same exact kinds of things (and still do lol). We may have a future Civil Engineer!!
I drive and boat around this bridge regularly. I fear, admire and respect it greatly.
Damn this is history right here.. Me and my cousin are the only ones that I know that love going across this bridge. Everyone else I know are terrified and I think I know why. It's because the road doesn't have any shoulders, so when you ride along the bridge it fills like you are going to go over the side.
I actually like the fact it has no shoulders since I love how it gives it an extra edge everytime I cross over
If it did have shoulders, they would be used as travel lanes when traffic is slowed to a crawl.
Amazing documentary showing the engineering marvels of the 50's.
Wow this was great! Thank you for sharing this . I drive across it every week for work and have made over 900 trips . Always one of my favorite parts of the week!.
Glad this film survived. Old enough to remember the ⛴️ ferries and the new bridge 🌉 as it was then. Thanks for the rescue!
Fascinating story ... I've crossed that bridge more than a hundred times (and sailed under it once), but now I can appreciate all that went into its construction (and muse on the fact that it's older than I am, but just by a year or so).
It went from a two-way bridge to an eastbound bridge in 1973, when Maryland completed a parallel three-lane westbound span to its north -- with one reversible lane for Friday-night congestion, when the eastbound traffic overwhelms the two eastbound lanes. This is awkward at best and dangerous at worst, and the Eastern Shore politicos are agitating for "more bridge" -- they want both spans replaced with an eight-lane bridge, but Maryland's Governor Hogan feels that the right answer is to build a third span.
Seems to me that a three-lane eastbound bridge south of the 1952 bridge would work, allowing the old bridge to switch from eastbound Friday to westbound Sunday. But we can expect the Gubmint to pursue the most expensive, wasteful, and over-engineered answer.
Well-Maryland. They are YANKEES after all.
I absolutely LOVE sailing under it!!! I always get such an appreciation for its sheer size when I’m down on the water.
Whenever I think my job is dangerous, I will watch this documentary from now on.
As an apprentice carpenter/piledriver this video is really cool. It is amazing what man can do with basic hand tools, a level, string line and torch and welding machine.
How are these two trades even in the same realm?
The ferries that were used to cross the bay were sent to Seattle and they were used well into the 70s.
Been over it many times. The first time was the Sunday after it opened. Before the Bridge was completed, my family took the ferry to and from the eastern shore. I must be older than dirt!
I still don't get how they built that tunnel
@@nikkisixx6042 ukr i swear these white guys are something else🤣
@@shanelovesmustang4597 whoever designed the idea is smart whatever nationality he is
@@nikkisixx6042 what tunnel? this is a bridge.
70 years later the bridge is nearing the end of its service life and is in need of replacement
Let it go from which it came.
Nah, this bridge isn't past it's service life, the Golden Gate bridge is older and still being used today.
@@deltaboy767 it only has 2 lanes and both of the bridges are constantly a bottleneck for traffic.
They were looking into doing a feasibility study for a new bridge to replace both, but I’m guessing that has been shelved or cancelled after the key bridge collapse
@@theresalwaystrainsintetonv69 Have you ever been across the Golden Gate bridge? It's also 2 lane in one direction and 2 lanes In the other, and it was built in 1918. Well over 100 years and still serving it's purpose.
@@deltaboy767the Golden Gate Bridge was built in the 30’s, and has more than 2 lanes of traffic in either direction
That's my "landmark" when I'm sailing up (or down) the Chesapeake Bay. We call it "The Bridge That Never Gets There," because (at sailing speed 5 kts or so) you see it HOURS before you actually sail under it. Another "Bridge That Never Gets There" is the Francis Scott Key Bridge just outside of Baltimore Harbor.
My dad calls it that too. We used to sail out of Rock Hall and cross it about every weekend.
@@ChesapeakeBay89 My schooner's docked at Fell's Point now. After all this COVID crap, I'm gonna' do a bit of a "refurb"/refit and hope to be sailing to Rock Hall at least once a month. Waterman's restaurant and the Harbor Shack restaurant are both GREAT places for seafood or any other kind of chow in Rock Hall. Also, Rock Hall's annual Pirate Weekends used to be the stuff of legend, too. The organizers say they plain to start building them up again in the post-COVID world.
The Francis Scott Key Bridge "got there" alright -right to the river bottom
This is great docu. Thanks for posting
I am 62 now and have been traveling that bridge since 1959 the bridge opened in 1956..
I once drove over this bridge some years back. I was never so awe struck and terrified at the same time! 😩😩😩
There is only a bridge over the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. The bridge-tunnel is in Virginia.
GREAT DOCUMENTARY.
I drove over that bridge for the first time in 1988. It terrified me. Long after I left the DC area, I took my wife and then 3 year old to Ocean City. I drove over that bridge in a windy rainstorm. I almost made the steering wheel pop, I held it so hard.
I hate that steel roadbed in the center
@@sammyvh11 believe me it's crazy on a motorcycle. Can't count the times I've crossed the bridge to reach O.C.
Great history lesson on construction of this bridge. Always wondered how cinstruction was done.
The issue with the first bridge was it was to small (no emergency lanes). Also the suspension bride section's road deck is boxed in with beams and they obstructs the view of the bay.
Wow, I’m from Annapolis and have never seen this documentary
We have fallen so far.
I think it’s crazy how old the bridge is I’ve been across it tons of times
Ever since then it has become one of the most scariest bridges to cross in America. But i like this design, and its construction. On the shores it gives a nice view of the bridge from here.
All without computer.
Or welding. As a W.E. I marvel at the numerous glorious structures assembled with tens of thousands of glowing red hot rivets.
They had computers, just a lot bigger and they used punch cards
No computers in 1952.
@@rmanning1588First computer was 1945
Prior to 9/11, they would close one of the spans for a few hours every year on a day in May for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Walk/Run. I made the 4 mile trek every year.
You're gay. I did the swim.
This music is so relaxing I love it👍👍👍👍👍
I have driven across that bridge many times. Very interesting to see how they built the thing.
Wow! At 6:55 there's a real "steam shovel" (crane). I wonder if it was a Keystone? My grandfather operated one of those. I met an old guy in Florida who was operating one when it tipped over and the firebox dumped onto his leg. He lived for many years after that, but the skin on his legs was a mess.
Yikes!
there are two of them now in parallel and you only pay one way ain't cheap anymore
Only cheap bridge is VA into MD, not the other way around and definitely not MD to MD.
@@ChesapeakeBay89 talking about Chesapeake bay bridge up north , not bay bridge-tunnel down south .
This is very fascinating
To do the same thing today most everything would have to be imported because we no longer make anything.
Wow, I’m in Delaware and I cross this bridge at lease twice a week for work.
What part of de? I live near seaford and cross the bridge a lot :)
I thank God I made it across that structure while attending UMES years ago.😂😂
Not enough credit given to the captains of the barges carrying those huge spans in unison, to ensure everything went together as planned. Nor to the crane operators who had to control the raising and lowering of the spans as they dealt with the ever changing waves.
Also does anyone know how many died building the bridge?
Good job, really good
We used to make steel now it's burgers and fries pretty sad
You are right. China is the master infrastructure country in the world. They could build a new bridge in a year while we would take at least twice that long. But we can get your burger and fries in five minutes. We have become dumb, gun crazy and shallow.
Much of talbot county and kent island is now vacation homes now thanks to this bridge
I love how they draw pictures like your actually explaining how you drive 40 foot wooden poles into a lake bed ?? Lol
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view!"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
If they used a computer with a 3D rendering they would have realized they should have made the walls higher
Must've been a scary job.. i wonder if there were any tragedies during the building/proccess of assembling this bridge 😮
Before the bridge , they had to ferry cars across to the eastern shore. They built another in the 70s .
Thanks! Wondered how cars made it to Delmarva back in those days.
Goddamn, we really built some things back in the day.
Oh yeah! King Kong stuff!😂😂
We?
I didn't do it did you?
@@danielgood5471 I did! Shut your mouth boy!
anyone know that song in the background? you can hear it good at 1:15
Maryland my maryland
More about the chespake bay bridge
i hate that bridge ... especially when the send north traffic on the south side
You'll like it if you are on a boat. Much more enjoyable.
Is there a part 2 for the 3 lane bridge?
the second span was added in the 1970s.
@Insertgenericusernamehere809 That's right and it was June of 1973 . So where's part 2 of them building that one
@@tommymartin4827 I searched it up and doesn't look like it. This was probably promotional anyways, they wanted people to know about it and pay the tolls.
How did you find this fine film?
Years ago I used to transfer 16mm films to video. Kept copies of a few i liked for myself.
@@squire87 Bethlehem Steel had a large film library which was used for in-corporate use. They also loaned films to the public via Modern Talking Pictures service. AT the time of Bethlehem's closure I suggested to the curator at the National Canal Museum in nearby Easton that he should look into their films. As a result everything was donated and for my work I was given prints when there were duplicates, including this film. Like yourself I used to record audio on tape and later video.
@@squire87 Thank you for preserving this history.
@@squire87 Is this copyrighted? If not please contact me.
@@ronz101 According to the film's opening title card, Copyright belonged to BS in 1953. Of course that was 70 years so it may very well have fallen into the public domain by now.
So, JE Grinner Co and Bethlehem Steel are who to blame.
Trying to find video of actual construction of bridge and tunnel. Any one have a good website for that??? Thanks so much
I found it right here. Sorry Awesome thanks
Cuando se trabajaba cuando hera América
Homie almost dove his forklift off the bridge at 33:25
really?
These guys were the best forklift operators you could get, I'll bet. But yes it looks extremely unsafe by our modern standards. 😬
those were real men back in them days today we have girly men that became woke
I could build a bridge
Yeah!
Amen❤
And forgot how to construct a coherent sentence.
Idk why ppl.say this is scary ...I live in md i love crossing it