History
The bridge is at least the third bridge over the Don River at this location, the first operated by the Scadding family in the early 1800s. The previous bridges were closer to the level of the river bank below.
The current steel Truss bridge was built in 1911. It was higher in elevation than previous bridges at the location and streets on each side of the river were graded higher to meet the level of the bridge. The construction of this bridge eliminated a grade-level railway crossing on the west bank of the river.
The bridge was renovated in the 1990s and public art was added. At the top of the western side of the bridge is a piece of public art created in 1996 by Eldon Garnet. It consisted of a clock, which ceased to work and the mechanism and hands were removed in 2010, with the phrase "this river I step in is not the river I stand in" written in large letters. There are also three metal "banners."
The bridge is one of a few steel Truss bridges in the city:
- Old Eastern Avenue Bridge – unused bridge crossing the Don River
- Bathurst Street Bridge – recycled bridge used on the Lakeshore
- Tywn River Drive Bridge – a minor bridge crossing the Rouge River
- Lawrence Avenue Bridge – former bridge that took traffic over Don River replaced by current overpass in the 1960s
Read more about this topic: Queen Street Viaduct
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)