Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Plaques: two bridges

I have been collecting plaques around Rensselaer and featuring them on this blog. Today I note two plaques, both on bridges. One is on the Melville Street Bridge. You might be able to see it in the lower right hand side of a rather uninteresting bridge.
Below is the close up of the plaque. It reads:
Jasper County
Bridge No. 4
County Commissioners
Fred Boissy Jr.
Eugene H Lewis
Harold Evers
Auditor
Bessie B Scheurich
Road Subervisor
Verland Christopher
Engineer
Warren T. Hobson and Associates, Inc.
Contractor
Hornback Sickler Corp
Year Built 1981


The other bridge is the Grace Street Bridge, which is more visually appealing.
It has was built by both the city and county, so it has a lot more names on the plaque, which you can see on the right of the bridge.
Grace Street Bridge
Original Bridge Built 1901
Replaced 1965
City Bond Issue - $65,000.00
Jasper County Donation - $10,000.00

City of Rensselaer Officials
Emmett W. Eger, Mayor
William F. Malone, Clerk Treasurer
Thomas B. Dumas, Councilman
Glenn L. Fortune, Councilman
Barton Hamacher, Councilman
Joseph Sheldon, Councilman
J. Byron Phegely, Councilman
Robert E. Burman, Councilman
Bridge Engineer
Dwight Schlegelmilch

Jasper County Officials
Dan Sipkema, Pres., Commissioner
Earl Miller, Jr., Commissioner
Harry F. Bahler, Commissioner
John E. Hopkings, Attorney
Robert Florence, Road Supervisor
Contractor
Russell L. Horanback, Inc.

The only plaque on the Washington Street Bridge is a historical market. Rensselaer's other bridge, the College Avenue Bridge was once known as the Creamery Bridge, as its plaque states.

Has the practice of putting plaques on the bridges with the names of the political officeholders of the day been abandoned?

1 comment:

  1. These names on the bridge plaques bring back good memories of many former Rensselaerians. You are broadening my trivia base. That helps when someone did not grow up in Rensselaer.

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