Back in the mid-1930s, the buzz around Sacramento was strong as the city was anticipating the arrival of a very important new resident, the Tower Bridge. And since its celebrated opening 72 years ago, the bridge has continued to be one of the city’s most cherished landmarks.

Whether it is a nightly television news report, a nationally-televised sporting event, a postcard, a phone book or road map cover or a large number of other things, Sacramento has continuously been represented by images of that famous bridge that connects the capital city with its Yolo County neighbor, West Sacramento.

Sacramento’s love affair with the Tower Bridge began with the departure of the old M Street Bridge, which was constructed by the Sacramento Northern Railway Co. and had provided transportation across the Sacramento River since 1910.

No longer considered sufficient for the amount of traffic flow that it was receiving by the 1930s, the 24-year-old M Street Bridge was demolished and construction began on the much anticipated Tower Bridge in July 1934.

Sixteen months later, the 160-foot-tall bridge was completed, ending the need for motorists to use the overburdened I Street Bridge as an alternative route.

The famed Tower Bridge, which originally included a 13-foot area at its center for railway tracks (this feature was eliminated in 1962), was no ordinary bridge, as in 1935 it was recognized as having one of the world’s highest lift spans.

With a vertical lift span of 200 feet and a 100-foot clearance from flood waters, the bridge allows for the passage of tall river vessels of many heights and was a marvel of bridge engineering then and now.

A Bridge to the Past
Sacramento native Russill Hausman, 85, said that his family submitted a proposed name for the contest.

“They had a contest to name the bridge in which anyone could submit a name for the bridge,” Hausman said. “A lot of people submitted names for it, including my family, who submitted the name, West Portal Bridge, due to its situation that it [extended to the west] just outside of Sacramento.”

Another Sacramento native, Stan Gilliam, said that he believes that other submitted names for the bridge were the Pioneer Bridge and the 49er Bridge.

Gilliam, 83, added that he believes that the name Tower was as good as any of the submitted names, because “it towered over any bridge we had then and it sure the hell was better than the old bridge, the M Street Bridge.”

Celebrating the new bridge, The Sacramento Union carried large spreads across its front pages on Dec. 15 and 16, 1935, the days of and after the bridge’s opening.

The Union’s announcement in its Dec. 15, 1935 edition that 10,000 people were expected to be at the opening day dedication ceremony was certainly no surprise, since the bridge had been a typical topic of discussion around the city for the previous two years.

It was certainly difficult to ignore the time that led up to the opening of the bridge, as nearly 271,000 construction hours were spent to complete the project. It was also estimated that more than twice this amount of hours were spent in the preparation of the bridge’s materials.

With an average workforce of 130 men, the art deco, streamline modern-style bridge, which is located along the route of the former Highway 40, was constructed with 6.5 million pounds of steel and 6,000 cubic yards of cement at a cost of about $1 million.

Overall, more than 330 men worked on the construction of the bridge, which also cost the lives of two of the bridge’s construction workers.

But once completed, the bridge, according to The Union, was a sight to behold that was “modern in design, massive, yet sleek and graceful in appearance” and a “truly representative link in the great highway that, with the completion of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, will form a continuous band of concrete and asphalt between the Atlantic and Pacific.”

As the day arrived that the bridge was finally opened, The Union reported that as many as 9,000 people were in attendance for the dedication ceremony, which was emceed by R.L. Moore, the general chairman of the dedication event. Many other people watched and listened at a distance from buildings and other areas on both sides of the river.

The twin sister vessel of Sacramento’s historic Delta King, the Delta Queen, even played a part in the celebration, as the Queen and several yachts and boats sounded their whistles for more than 10 minutes.

Crossing Colors
Since its opening 72 years ago, the bridge, which once served as the main gateway to Sacramento, has undergone various transitions.

One of its most dominant transitions has been its changes in colors.

Originally painted silver with an aluminum petroleum product that was used in the creation of the paint for the Bay Bridge, Tower Bridge took on a new look in June 1976, when it received a fresh coat of pumpkin-colored paint or ochre, according to Caltrans. The color was selected to resemble the gold-leafed cupola atop the State Capitol dome.

In 2002, the color of the bridge was once again changed, this time receiving a metallic gold paint job during a three-month period when the bridge was closed to traffic.

Although many locals claimed that the gold paint used on the bridge did not exactly match the paint color that was selected by a 48 percent majority of local voters, the current color of the bridge is scheduled to remain throughout the following three decades.

The most recent change in the bridge’s appearance occurred with a $12 million project, which expanded the bridge’s walkways from three to 10 feet wide, allowing additional space for those walking to and from downtown jobs, joggers, bicyclists and attendees of Raley Field events.

The completion of the project was celebrated with an April 12, 2008 gathering on the bridge, which was attended by U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui and mayors Heather Fargo of Sacramento and Christopher Cabaldon of West Sacramento.

Tower Bridge: Pillar of Sacto
In pondering the importance of the Tower Bridge, Fargo recently shared her views about the bridge with The Union.

“I do think of the Tower Bridge as a real icon for Sacramento,” Fargo said. “I think for a lot of people, it’s the gateway entrance that they use to enter our city and it’s a beautiful bridge. It’s charming. It’s a national treasure. It is definitely a historic bridge and it’s one of those things that, to me, is unique about Sacramento.”

And with its extreme value to Sacramento and its West Sacramento neighbors, who are represented with a city logo featuring an image of the bridge, the Tower Bridge maintains a strong legacy and a promising future that should last for many generations to come.