Honouring Buffalo, Fort Erie connection
For more than 90 years, the Peace Bridge has stood as a memorial to the friendship between Canada and the United States.
It was once hailed by Ripley’s Believe it or Not! as an engineering marvel featuring three different kinds of bridge construction, and its Parker Truss (the large arch in the middle of the bridge) has been an iconic symbol in Fort Erie with a stylized profile being incorporated into the town’s logo.
Tucked away in the Buffalo-Fort Erie Peace Bridge Authority’s (PBA) offices at 100 Queen St., there is a historical display created by Jane Davies and Erin Wilson from the Fort Erie Historical Museum back in 2006. The building also houses the museum’s display of Indigenous artifacts.
“These are my favourite exhibits,” said Davies, manager of the Town of Fort Erie museums and cultural services.
The idea for the exhibit came from PBA general manager Ron Rienas, Davies said.
“It was their idea to do this. They asked if the Fort Erie museum could produce an exhibit.”
Rienas said the authority wanted to show how the bridge has played a major role in Fort Erie’s growth. Prior to its construction, cross-border commerce was conducted by ferry.
“The Peace Bridge was such an incredibly important factor in the history of Fort Erie. It determined how the town developed, and influenced countless crossborder business and personal relationships.”
That latter point is something Davies agreed with.
“A lot of people have relationships on both sides of the border,” she said. “There are people who live in Fort Erie who work in Buffalo.”
The exhibit is divided into four segments. Photographs document the planning, building and opening of the bridge. Visitors end their journey in a room featuring a panoramic image of the bridge and the official dedication on Aug. 7, 1927. Visitors can then look out a window for a view of the current bridge from the same height from which the photo was taken.
“It’s really an interesting story,” Davies said.
The original push for a bridge spanning the Niagara River came in 1912. Businessmen on both sides of the border wanted to build the bridge as a way of marking 100 years of peace between Canada and the United States. Plans were put on hold when the First World War broke out in 1914.
The calls for a bridge resumed after the war and in May of 1925, $4.5 million in bonds were issued to finance its construction. Final approval for the bridge from officials on both sides of the border was given by Aug. 17 of that year.
The exhibit features a lot of information detailing the methods used during the construction, including the complicated process used to install footings in the Niagara River. The bridge itself was constructed in a world record 234 days, five days under the previous mark.
Milestones for the bridge are also a feature, including when the millionth trip over the bridge was recorded (1963) and the first case of smuggling contraband over the span when a man was caught trying to smuggle 21 cartons of cigarettes into Canada on July 4, 1927, just a month after its June 1 opening.
When the bridge was completed, it was big news. Attending the opening were a number of international dignitaries including U.S. vice-president Charles Dawe and two future Kings of England, Edward, then the Prince of Wales, and Albert, then the Duke of York. Edward, of course, went on to abdicate the throne in 1936 so he could marry American divorcee Wallace Simpson.
The next big milestone for the bridge will come in eight years when the bridge marks its 100th birthday. Rienas said that there’s “no doubt” some sort of celebration will be planned.
“To have a piece of transportation infrastructure last 100 years is quite an achievement,” he said. “We are currently in the process of completing a US$100-million rehabilitation of the bridge designed to have the Peace Bridge continue functioning as it currently is till the year 2100.”
Admission to the exhibit is free and is open to the public Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Guests are asked to consider that the office is a place of business and to act accordingly.