Acrylic Picture The Bridge, Wasaga Beach, Ontario, - 16

Object/Artifact

-

Town of Wasaga Beach

Acrylic Picture "The Bridge, Wasaga Beach, Ontario, - 16"

Acrylic Picture "The Bridge, Wasaga Beach, Ontario, - 16"

Name/Title

Acrylic Picture "The Bridge, Wasaga Beach, Ontario, - 16"

Entry/Object ID

2020.7.1

Description

Acrylic Black and white picture, "The Bridge, Wasaga Beach, Ontario, - 16"

Context

A photograph of the original Main Street Bridge, which replaced the original wooden Van Vlack Bridge in 1909. The steel bridge mounted on concrete piers cost an estimated $15 000. It had two narrow lanes and a pedestrian walkway. The new steel bridge, located west of the original wooden Van Vlack bridge, contributed to the creation of the Main Street area. People drove across the bridge and onto Main Street and the beachfront. The bridge was operational into the late 1950s, when continued deterioration, the need for a wider bridge due to the increase in summer tourists and newly available provincial funding resulted in the construction of a new Main Street bridge. From Mary Watson’s article “Wasaga Bridges”, October 22, 2008, "Some of the steel and concrete from the original bridge was salvaged and used to build a large boathouse along the river, as well as the bridge that connects property on River Road West to an island just east of the Schoonertown Bridge." The Main Street bridge is still referred to as the "Old Bridge" by many area locals.

Acquisition

Accession

2020.7

Source or Donor

Unknown

Acquisition Method

Gift

Dimensions

Height

15-1/2 in

Width

19-1/2 in