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Jon Paul’s Maritime Diaries

Today as the fourth bridge in Sturgeon Bay is nearing completion, it will be 121 years after the first bridge spanned the downtown area. The new bridge and what should be done with the Michigan Street Bridge has sparked controversy for the last 20 years and is still an active dispute today. The first bridge, which was owned and operated privately as a toll bridge for its first 25 years, was not spared of controversy of its own.

The history of the first bridge seems to be quite shaded by differences in historians’ perspectives concerning the motive for it being built in the first place. Although some historians argue that the county was not that interested in a bridge being built to span the two sides of the bay in a growing community, one would think it would have been a natural progression in the area considering the building of the canal. Disputes over the new bridge being built would arise from various parties’ interests. The ferry boat that made money transporting people and goods across the bay objected, and the fact that a bridge would be a navigational burden, making the owners of sailing ships and large steamers employ tugs to escort their ships through a narrow draw during rough weather, also provided grounds for objection. The history of the first bridge, as I view it, is drawn from information from many authors and historical documentation of the time.

The First Sturgeon Bay Bridge

Historian Stanley Greene stated: “The necessity of bridging Sturgeon Bay was not apparent, even to the settlers around the bay, for a long time. The fact that it took a driver eleven hours to drive a team of oxen around the head of the bay was not important. Even when work began on the canal and the northern half of the peninsula faced the prospect of becoming an island separated from the southern mainland, its inhabitants remained unconcerned by their fate. When a referendum on a bridge across the bay was held, only nine voters in the county, north of Sturgeon Bay Town, favored it and six of these were residents of Sevastopol Town.”

Robert Noble built the first ferry of any size – the Arch, in 1874, and then the Robert Noble in 1883. The county did realize that there was concern over bridging the two sides of the bay, but when the original estimates for a bridge came at a cost of between $16,000 and $18,000 the matter was tabled indefinitely.

One story of the toll bridge’s conception was that Thomas Smith, engaged at the time in the ice business in Sawyer Harbor with his partner John Leathem, could not get home some nights in the winter due to the ferry not being able to cross. His wife being pregnant at the time compelled him to go to the county board and request a 25 year charter from the county board of supervisors, which was approved.

Although this story is not documented and other historians have different versions for the creation of a bridge, it does have its merits in historical coincidences. In 1886, John Leathem and Thomas Smith had a large contract for providing ice for the Hammond Packing Company of Hammond Indiana. Thomas Smith’s wife Anna was pregnant at the time with a son that would be born on September 7, 1886. Leathem D. Smith would be named after Thomas’s partner and longtime friend, John Leathem. It would be during Anna’s pregnancy that Thomas and John would receive their charter for the toll bridge.

The bridge construction was begun immediately and completed early in 1887. John Leathem, Thomas Smith and Rufus Kellogg formed the Sturgeon Bay Bridge Company. Rufus was Thomas Smith’s son-in-law who had married Thomas’s daughter Theresa. That year the bridge and ferry operations would go into a toll war that would reduce rates to below cost of operation for both sides. The ferry enterprise would not pay dividends to its shareholders at the end of 1887 and would go out of operation in the bay for the 1888 season. The rates for the toll bridge would be $.75 for threshing outfits, $.25 for a team and rider and $.05 for foot passengers.

The Ahnapee and Western (A & W) Railway would be granted $76,000 from the city and county in 1891 for the construction of a railway to Sturgeon Bay in 1891. The next progression of the bridge would be in 1894 when a railway was attached to the bridge and the addition of a western rail approach. The railway would pay for half of the expenses for the bridge. In 1911 the city would take over the bridge and it would become public with no tolls. The Michigan Street Bridge would be finished in 1931 and be used for all public transportation while the A & W Railway would operate the rail bridge for their use only. In 1968, A &W would cease operations and abandon the rail bridge.

Some historians would write that the Leathem & Smith Lumber Company was in decline and that the bridge was purely a profit-motivated venture, although history would prove that the partners would branch out in a variety of business opportunities and the bridge operation was simply one of the less profitable ones.

The original bridge was removed in 1973 leaving only the western embankment. With a grant from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program in 1987 the embankment was improved for public use. Today it is the sole remnant of the first bridge in Sturgeon Bay and is a popular fishing spot or just a nice place to go and relax.