This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Bay span bridges gap along Coast
otorists who had scurried bravely across the rickety, wooden Bay St. Louis bridge breathed a sigh of relief on Aug. 2, 1953.
A $9 million concrete span was dedicated with all the pomp and ceremony it deserved. In the first hour, 1,000 automobiles loaded with cheering passengers drove the two-mile distance.
The crisscross traffic between Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis uses the same bridge 40 years later.
The wooden roadway it replaced was built in 1927, and the pavement material and wood had caught fire often. Before that span was built, motorists used a ferry service or drove the long Kiln-Delisle route.
The bridge also offers the community a little Southern lagniappe: When the fish are running, folks show up with their rods and reels. But most importantly, the 1953 four-laner, officially part of U.S. 90, remains a vital link between coastal Hancock and Harrison counties.
“Spectators assembled on the western approach to the bridge for an occasion unsurpassed in beauty and historical significance, ” the Daily Herald reported about the daylong dedication.
The bridge officially opened one minute after midnight when a Louisiana car bought the first 25-cent ticket. Twenty-four hours later, the bridge tenders had collected $3,230.74, all designated to retire the state bond that paid for the bridge’s construction.
The toll was 25 cents a car, but obviously someone was a penny short. No one would dare point a finger at the first volunteer toll collectors, who happened to be the Bay’s mayor, John Scafide, along with Highway Commissioner Cyril Glover, John Dambrino and Russell Chapman.
Cause celebre
Dedication day was a big deal. Red, white and blue streamers were draped the length of the bridge, speeches were made, prayers said and ribbons cut twice. Mississippi’s Miss Hospitality, Edna Khayet of Moss Point, and the Miss Mississippi contender from Picayune, Suzanne
NAN PATTON EHRBRIGHT THE SUN HERALD/1985
Mary Wessley fishes from the Bay St Louis bridge, dedicated in 1953.
COAST CHRONICLES
“Let us put forth every effort to keep our highways up-to-date, urging the nation to travel on our roads, with the resulting gasoline taxes going in turn to better and better highways. ” Ironically, one of those “better highways” — Interstate 10 — has taken much of the New Orleans to Florida traffic off the Highway 90 bridge. But as the Coast grew, increased local traffic filled in the gap.
The contractor was Merritt Chapman & Scott from New York. Here’s what went into making the bridge: 300 freight carloads of cement, 600 carloads of sand, 1,200 carloads of gravel and enough steel to build 80 locomotive cars.
All the coastal cities were excited about the bridge’s construction, believing it would become easier to
oi Louisiana or east to Florida and Alabama were likely to chose U.S. 90, with its restaurants and sleeping places.
To emphasize this important fact on dedication day, waters from the Pacific, Atlantic, Mississippi River and Gulf were poured into a container, “symbolizing the merging of the transcontinental motor route which links all four bodies of water.”
A day for VIPs
Members of the Bay St. Louis Lions Club and American Legion Post 139, beauty queens and other VIPs took turns standing at the toll gates that first day, handing out complimentary state maps and commemorative windshield stickers.
More motorists than expected came to test the bridge, and the stickers ran out at 10,000.
This was the blooming era for automobiles and motor hotels, or motels, and families were taking to the road for their vacations. In the post-World War II boom, cars were becoming indispensable.
Spending $9 million — a whopping amount in 1953 — for a bridge didn’t seem unreasonable, and for awhile, motorists were willing to pay the toll to retire the construction bond.
The toll slowly dropped as the bond headed toward payoff, and finally, af-
H
A
$i
By P
KNI(
■ W
tab f ricai to m tago depl disa: B eign Des $42.
A inch. Acc< lion Des-prep gene pati( ies; of a 6.2 repa T of 2< dut> civili Soul But U.S. sonr T Def( erec regc weri But pro].
W cant the' Age eme gres fall.