Alpena’s Second Avenue Bridge

Alpena’s Second Avenue Bridge. . Since Alpena’s inception, the Thunder Bay River has bisected the city. Initially, a wooden scow, pulled back and forth across the river with a rope, served as a ferry and connected Second Avenue on the south side with Dock Street on the north. In the spring of 1864, the community paid Obed Smith $1,000 for the construction of a bridge. The simple wooden span served its purpose, but did not last and fell into ruin within five or six years. The inefficient old scow ferry was reactivated. , Samuel Boggs of Alpena constructed a second bridge in 1872-73. Instead of a fixed span, he built a wooden swing bridge that could be opened to allow ships upstream. This design meant that sawmills and commercial docks could be constructed at upriver locations, and several large mills were built during the mid-1870s as a result. A sturdier steel swing bridge, built by the Smith Bridge Company of Ohio, replaced the wooden span in 1856. , The current Second Avenue drawbridge was authorized in August 1938, and construction began the following spring. The bridge opened to pedestrian traffic on December 1, 1939, and to vehicular traffic five days later. With a horizontal clearance of 72 feet, it permitted easy access for all but the largest Great Lakes freighters of the period.