Ceremony Will Mark Bridge Opening Date Nov. 1
By Karen Gould

Governor G. Mennen Williams rising above the crowd to pay the first one-way toll of $3.25 to cross the Mackinac Bridge November 1, 1957. Wearing a toll collector's hat, Prentiss M. Brown stands ready to collect the fee, opening the bridge to traffic for the first time. The governor's wife, Nancy, drove the car from Mackinaw City to the toll booths in St. Ignace, remembers Larry Rubin, who rode with the couple. Mr. Rubin, of St. Ignace, the first executive secretary to the Mackinac Bridge Authority, said the governor was to drive the car, but his driver's license had expired because he was always chauffeured. (Photograph from the Mackinac Bridge Authority)

On a sunny Indian Summer day November 1, 1957, vehicles lined up for a mile at each end of the new Mackinac Bridge, toll collectors readied their change drawers, and some of those responsible for the "great web of steel" climbed into a convertible to lead the traffic as it flowed over the Straits of Mackinac for the first time.

Since that day, 142,930,000 vehicles have traversed the bridge. On Thursday, November 1, 2007, the Mackinac Bridge Authority (MBA) will mark 50 years of crossings with a celebration at Bridge View Park in St. Ignace beginning at 12:30 p.m.

The day the Mackinac Bridge was opened to traffic, November 1, 1957. Pictured are (from left) Michigan Highway Commissioner John C. Mackie, Design Engineer David B. Steinman, Governor G. Mennen Williams, Mackinac Bridge Authority Chairman Prentiss M. Brown, former Governor and MBA member Murray VanWagoner, MBA member George Osborn, MBA member William Cochran, and former MBA Executive Secretary Lawrence A. Rubin. (Photograph courtesy of Mackinac Bridge Authority)

The ceremony will include two dedications and the presentation of the U.S. Congressional Record recognizing the milestone. A tower trip tour will be awarded to one winner, and two vacation packages will be given out at random. One weekend package will be for St. Ignace and a second weekend package will be for Mackinaw City, the two cities connected by the five-mile span.

Travelers crossing the bridge will receive a souvenir card marking their journey over the bridge November 1, 2007, although supplies are limited. Similar cards were handed out 50 years ago.

Bridge traffic will be stopped briefly as a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony is held with a green ribbon stretched across the toll plaza area. At the June 1958 dedication ceremony, two pieces of ribbon were stretched from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and tied together by Nancy Williams, wife of Governor G. Mennen Williams, and Marion Brown, wife of Prentiss M. Brown. The 22,700-foot-long green ribbon symbolized the bridge uniting the state.

During this year's ceremonies, a leather-bound U.S. Congressional tribute to the bridge will be read. The tribute, which has been entered into the U.S. Congressional Record, includes remarks made by U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak of Menominee to the U.S. House of Representatives July 27, 2007.

"My district is comprised of Michigan's two peninsulas and 1,613 miles of shoreline," said Congressman Stupak in his speech to Congress. "Traveling my district would be radically different, and almost impossible, without the Mackinac Bridge, which unites the two peninsulas and all of Michigan's citizens, physically and spiritually."

The 32nd Michigan Legal Milestone marker honoring Senator Prentiss Marsh Brown of St. Ignace also will be dedicated at the event. The bronze plaque recalling his contributions to the construction of the bridge will be attached to the building at Bridge View Park. The Michigan Bar Association, contributor of the plaque, has honored 31 other important cases, people, and events that have an impact on the state's legal history.

Also dedicated and permanently placed at the park will be a bronze plaque awarded in 1999 to the Mackinac Bridge Authority. The recognition declares the Mackinac Bridge the top civil engineering project of the 20th Century by the American Society of Civil Engineers of Michigan. Ten other landmarks were chosen in the state based on their significant social and economic contributions to the Michigan.

A birthday cake baked by Glory McLennan of St. Ignace will be served during the event. Mrs. McLennan won the 50th anniversary cake contest in July, when the Mackinac Bridge anniversary was officially celebrated with parades, demonstrations, displays, and fireworks in St. Ignace, Mackinaw City, and Mackinac Island.

Bob Sweeney, executive secretary to the Mackinac Bridge Authority, is estimating more than 8,000 vehicles will travel the bridge November 1, including school buses from nearby districts filled with students, who will attend the historic event. Students from St. Ignace Area Schools are planning to attend, said Mr. Sweeney, and other area schools have been invited to the event. Already, students from Traverse City are making plans to travel to St. Ignace to attend the afternoon events. Over the last 50 years, during an average November 1 day, Mr. Sweeney said, 7,000 vehicles cross the bridge.

During the 50th anniversary official bridge opening ceremony, souvenirs will be available for sale, including commemorative bridge tokens, T-shirts, Michigan History Magazine the Mackinac Bridge edition, the Michigan Department of Transportation-produced DVD "Our Bridge at 50," and the Mackinac Bridge book by Larry Rubin of St. Ignace, the MBA's first executive secretary.

Those interested in entering the drawing to win the tower tour can still register at the St. Ignace Welcome Center just north of the toll plaza.