News

2002-08-05 -- Peace Bridge Celebrates its 75th Anniversary

BUFFALO, N.Y./FORT ERIE, O.N. -- On August 7, 1927 an estimated 100,000 American and Canadian citizens witnessed the splendor and spectacle of the Peace Bridge’s opening ceremony. For the 75 years that have followed, the Peace Bridge has been a major international link, serving as a primary economic conduit for trade and tourism between the U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, the bridge -- which was dedicated as a symbol of the peace and friendship between the U.S. and Canada -- still stands as a tribute to the relationship between our great countries.

To commemorate the Peace Bridge’s 75th Anniversary, a brief rededication ceremony will take place at the center of the bridge on August 7, 2002, to be followed by a public celebration at Mather Park in Fort Erie from noon to 2 p.m.

At 11:45 a.m., Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop and the Canadian representatives of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority (PBA) Board of Directors will meet Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello and the American representatives of the PBA Board of Directors at the international boundary line on the Peace Bridge (please see attached media advisory). There, they will participate in a ribbon cutting ceremony and will rededicate the bridge and the relationship between Fort Erie and Buffalo, Canada and the U.S. In honor of the 1927 ribbon cutting and the first cars that crossed the Peace Bridge, both parties will be driven to the bridge’s center in antique automobiles provided by the Buffalo Transportation Pierce Arrow Museum.

Immediately following the ribbon cutting, the two parties will join together and be led to Mather Park in Fort Erie by the Canada Customs Colour Guard. Upon entering Mather Park, the “Peace Bridge March,” which was composed in 1927 by Buffalo resident Emma M. Herold-Haft in honor of the Peace Bridge’s opening day, will be played. Under a big white tent, the Peace Bridge -- and the relationship it symbolizes -- will be celebrated in a public 75th Anniversary Ceremony. Speakers will include Mr. Paul Koessler, Chairman of the PBA Board of Directors, Mayor Redekop, Mayor Masiello, Mr. David Labbe, Cultural Coordinator for the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, and Mr. John Lopinski, Vice Chairman of the PBA Board of Directors. Messages sent by Canadian Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, and New York State Governor George Pataki will also be shared.

At the close of the ceremony, Mayors Redekop and Masiello will exchange the flags of the Town of Fort Erie and the City of Buffalo. In honor of the relationship between Fort Erie and Buffalo that has grown in strength since the Peace Bridge opened, the Fort Erie flag will be raised in front of Buffalo City Hall for the day, and the Buffalo flag will be raised in front of the Fort Erie Municipal Centre for the day. Refreshments – including an anniversary cake – will follow the ceremony and footage from the original 1927 Dedication Ceremony will be showed on large-screen televisions.

History

Though the first organized efforts to build a bridge between Fort Erie and Buffalo began as early as 1851, it took more than seven decades before ground was broken. Complicated and conflicting bi-national legislation, opposition by special interest groups, the Great War, and the challenges of conquering the currents of the mighty Niagara River all worked against construction of the Peace Bridge.

But on June 1, 1927 the Peace Bridge officially opened to public traffic, and later that summer U.S. and Canadian residents converged and celebrated their shared symbol of peace with a formal opening ceremony. Present at the ceremony was a host of notable guests: Prince Edward of Wales, Prince George, Duke of York, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, U.S. Vice President Charles Dawes, Secretary of State Frank Kellogg, New York Governor Al Smith and Ontario Premier Howard Ferguson all took part in the dedication ceremony.

Newspapers estimated that as many as 50 million people may have tuned in to hear the speeches and fanfare of the day, which were transmitted in the first international coast-to-coast radio broadcast.

Alonzo Mather, an American inventor, is considered the original visionary of a link between Canada and the U.S. near the mouth of the Niagara River. In the second half of the 19th century, he proposed a design for harbors and a bridge to connect the two countries by rail, trolley, and vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Under Mather’s plan, the bridge would pay for itself -- he proposed building turbines between the bridge abutments that would use the swift current of the river to make electricity for sale.

In 1893, Mather got the go-ahead from Canada for his project, but Niagara Falls power interests in the U.S. fought the bridge’s construction for nearly a decade, fearing competition. And while the New York State Legislature did approve construction of Mather’s bridge three times, the power interests ultimately succeeded – twice by having the bills killed by the governor and once through passage of a new federal law prohibiting bridge construction in international waters without a special act of Congress.

A citizen’s movement to erect a vehicle bridge gained momentum in 1909 -- the primary driving force being a desire to erect a series of monuments to commemorate a century of peace between the U.S. and Canada since the War of 1812. But, the outbreak of World War I put all bridge plans on hold.

Finally, in 1919 Buffalo businessman William Eckert, attorney John Van Allen, and industrialist Frank Baird took up the challenge. They approached Mather to sell the land he acquired for his plan, which he did -- at cost. By 1925 bi-national legislation created the international Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Company, and a plan was adopted that provided for private financing of a bridge through tolls. Groundbreaking took place on August 17, 1925.

Today, the Peace Bridge is a pathway to various recreational activities in Western New York and Southern Ontario, and is a major trade conduit, often processing close to 6,000 trucks per day. The Province of Ontario alone purchases more U.S. goods than does all of Mexico, making the Customs District of Buffalo one of the top 10 trading districts in the U.S. The current value of trade crossing the Peace Bridge is about $700 million per week.