Happy 98th Birthday, Hells Gate Bridge

On September 30th, 1916, the Hells Gate Bridge opened to rail traffic over a treacherous section of the East River. Nearly a hundred years later, the thing presents Queens with a big question.

Just the facts: Construction began in March of 1912, and was completed in 1916. The design of the thing is credited to Henry Hornbostel, under the direction of Gustav Lindenthal. The Hells Gate Bridge was co-built and owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company and by the Pennsylvania Railroad, but today it is the property of Amtrak. Actual passenger service wouldn’t begin until April of 1917.

The whole shebang will be 98 years old tomorrow.

More after the jump…

The section pictured above, which overflies the East River nearby Astoria Park, is just one part of a complex of bridges which allows locomotive traffic egress from Long Island to the Bronx via Randalls and Wards Islands. The Little Hells Gate and Bronx Kill Bridges are part of this path, and the entire complex of bridges and viaducts is just over three miles in length.

When it opened, the 1,017 foot East River arch truss section and its corollary structures were called the “New York Connecting Railroad Bridge.”

Now… here’s the big question, fellow Queensicans… What are we going to do to celebrate the centennial of our iconic bridge in 1916? I was honored to be involved with the Queensboro centennial in 2009, as well a slew of other bridge centennials. We had a parade on QB, and the Mayor came and made a speech, and there were marching bands and fireworks…

What kind of party can we have in Astoria Park on the 30th of September, 2016, for the centennial of the Hells Gate Bridge? This is Federal property, so I think we are going to have to ask Carolyn Maloney, or Chuck Schumer, or Kristin Gillibrand.

Congresswoman, Senators, is there any possibility of a centennial celebration for the Hells Gate Bridge in 2016? If so, lets start planning and get this party started!

Newtown Creek Alliance Historian Mitch Waxman lives in Astoria and blogs at Newtown Pentacle.