This article appeared in the Winter 1983 Eagle Magazine
This article appeared in the Winter 1983 Eagle Magazine
Michigan Eagle J.C. Stilwell does not believe in burning his bridges behind him. Good thing, too, else the residents of Mackinaw City would not be celebrating the silver anniversary of the dedication of one of the world's great structural marvels this year -- the Mackinac Straits Bridge. J.C.Stilwell helped build it, proving those who said it couldn't be done just as wrong as the French explorer Jean Nicolet had been in 1634, when he canoed into the Mackinac Straits for the first time and thought he had found the fabled passage to the riches of the Orient.
The longest suspension bridge in the world, the Mackinac Straits Bridge spans a full five miles, connecting the two peninsulas of Michigan. When construction began in the Spring of 1954, workmen from all over the globe signed on for what turned out to be a three year job. For some, however, the end came sooner. Five men lost their lives in the construction of the bridge. To honor them and the others who worked side by side with him in building the great bridge, J.C. Stilwell founded the Mackinac Bridge Museum several years ago.
When the idea was born some years before that, Stilwell envisioned a free museum in Mackinaw City (the Bridge and Mackinac Island are spelled differently. Mackinaw is the phonetic spelling.. The different spellings were used originally to distinguish between the Island and the city when both were known as Mackinac or Mackinaw, Mich.) where visitors could come and learn more about what went into the construction of what is considered to be one of the truly outstanding engineering feats of modern times. In 1980, the member of Cheboygan, Mich., Aerie, decided there was no time like the present, and no place like home to begin. There was plenty of unused space above his pizza parlor in downtown Mackinaw City, and so Stilwell used it.
One of his first moves was to purchase the Mackinac Straits Bridge construction memorabilia that was on display at a tavern in St. Ignace that had been a hangout for workmen on the bridge while it was going up. When he did that, word quickly spread about Stilwell's museum project, and in no time the mailman was making deliveries to Mama Mia's Pizzeria in a truck as bridge workmen from everywhere began sending their hard hats, union work books, badges, tools, work belts, notes and everything else they had saved as a souvenir of their successful struggle against the odds, the experts and the elements.
These items were put on display in cases built in the fledgling museum. Then came the rivet baskets and catching cans, spud wrenches and sleever bars, drift pins and bull pins, beater bars and yo-yo's, nineties and air wrenches, cable clamps and cable cutters -- all tools and parts used in the construction of the giant span.
Five different divers worked in the frigid waters of the Straits on the piers and caissons. The suit they wore was added to the collection. So were the "spinning wheels" used to spin the 42,000 miles of wire into the 24.5 inch bridge cables.
Bridge workers wore tool belts that weighed as much as 60 lbs., and several were contributed to the museum.
The American Bridge Division of the U.S. Steel Corp., lent Stilwell a copy of its official bridge movie. It was videotaped, and big screen television equipment was installed in the museum so that visitors could view it.
The five men died during the construction of the bridge -- three ironworkers, a laborer and a diver, all drowned in the Straits -- make up a special Honor Roll of those who helped turn the dream into reality.
Now J.C. Stilwell's other dream is a reality, but he has not stopped dreaming and planning. His Mackinac Bridge Museum is constantly being renovated to accommodate new artifacts from the great bridge. Professional museum consultants have been retained, and the Mackinac Bridge Museum is on its way to becoming a real local showcase.
Open from 8a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, the museum is open to the public free of charge.
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