One hundred years ago Allentown built its own “wonder of the world” and it still stands today.
The 8th Street Bridge was regarded as the largest poured concrete structure in the world when it opened for traffic on Nov. 17, 1913. An open-spandrel bridge, it has 17 spans and was built with 29,500 cubic yards of concrete and 1.1 million pounds of metal reinforcing rods. It cost more than a half million dollars and took two years to construct.
Now known as the Albertus Meyers Bridge, it remains an Allentown landmark that carries more than 14,000 cars over its 2,650 foot span each day.
With its majestic white arches and awesome 138 feet height, the bridge is inspiring to view and has inspired generations of local and regional artists.
To celebrate the bridge’s 100th anniversary, the Gallery at Penn State СŷƵ has organized an exhibition called “Connecting for the Future: The Eighth Street Bridge Turns 100.” On display are works by 28 regional artists who either created works with the bridge as their subject in the past or were invited to create a work for the exhibit.
From traditional realist paintings to abstract and conceptual interpretations and photography, the exhibit offers an array of approaches to Allentown’s most imposing edifice — that is, next to the PPL building, which was built two decades later.
Artists include Rudy Ackerman, Edgar S. Baum, Walter Emerson Baum, John Berninger, Greta Brubaker, Lee Butz, Sandra Corpora, Ron De Long, James Doddy, Adriano Farinella, Elizabeth Flaherty, Christina Galbiati, Rosemary Geseck, Oliver Havard, Lee Leckey, George Miller, Hans Milwald, Ramon Peralta, Jerry Quier, Alvena Seckar, Mike Sincavage, Heather Sincavage, Joseph Skrapits, Jason Travers, Dana Van Horn, Charles Vlasics, Ann Yost Whitesell and Ann Williams.
A unique aspect of the exhibit is the inclusion of iPads next to several of the works, on which you can see interviews with the artists and learn historical information on the bridge.
“Truth be told, I’ve been planning this exhibition for over 10 years,” says Ann Lalik, gallery director. “My husband John, inspired by a boyhood fascination and his subsequent career in construction, started collecting paintings of the magnificent structure in 1996. John Berninger’s oil painting was his first acquisition, and purchases and gifts of more paintings, drawings and photographs soon followed.”
Berninger’s oil, painted 15 years after the bridge opened, shows a young boy walking a dirt path amid a lush greenery of trees and shrubs. Today, it is a reminder of the somewhat pastoral landscape that used to be Allentown contrasted with the concrete structure of industrialization that towers above.
As her husband’s collection grew, says Lalik, the couple became aware of other artists inspired by the bridge. For example, Walter Emerson Baum, the American Impressionist who founded the Allentown Art Museum and the Baum School of Art, often painted the bridge, as did many of his students in the 1920s and 30s.
On display is Walter Baum’s vision of the bridge from 1932, a colorful, bright oil on canvas that shows sunlight on the looming bridge above a street filled with houses rendered in an orange-red brick. The painting is in contrast to Alvena Seckar’s “Land, river and sky” from the same year, again showing houses and buildings but from a distance, and giving us a view of the muddy, undeveloped banks of the Little Lehigh.
Walter’s son Edgar Baum’s “Eighth Street Bridge” from 1955 seems to have been painted almost at the same spot his father chose, and shows houses and buildings in a colder blue light below the white of the imposing span.
Something is immediately noticeable in all three paintings. None of the houses and buildings exists anymore — they’ve been replaced by soccer fields and ball parks. Trying to determine where the artist stood is problematic as the landscape along the Little Lehigh has changed drastically. These early works act as a time capsule of days gone by — an historic reference to the changes the bridge brought to the city.
The construction of the Eighth Street Bridge was seen as something of a necessity in the early part of the 20th century — to both boost the economy and improve the quality of life for local citizens. The Little Lehigh Creek, which it spans, was prone to flooding. The massive industrial complex of the American Steel and Wire Company as well as International Motors, later to become Mack Trucks, made for slow moving when going from center city to the burgeoning south side.
The bridge was like a lifeline, tying the city of Allentown together.
It was also key to expanding the Liberty Bell Line of electric trolleys owned by the СŷƵ Transit Company that would carry passengers from Allentown to Quakertown, Sellersville, Lansdale, Norristown and Philadelphia. The concrete standards that once supported the trolley wire — those obelisk looking columns — can still be seen standing on the bridge.
The bridge was a toll bridge when it opened — a penny for pedestrians, sheep and swine; 3 cents for horse, mule and cattle; five cents per car, motorcycle, sleds and sleighs; $1 for traction engines. The bridge remained a toll bridge until the early 1950s, when the trolleys were abruptly shut down and buses took over the route.
It was renamed the Albertus L. Meyers Bridge in 1974 in honor of the well-known conductor of the Allentown Band who had also been a cornet player in the band of John Philip Sousa. As a boy, Meyers had actually played at the inauguration of the bridge in 1913. The bridge was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Although much has changed in the landscape surrounding the bridge, it remains an inspiration for contemporary artists. Dana Van Horn’s untitled watercolor from 2011 shows a view of the bridge from a soccer field in the winter. Dark blue skies and leafless trees contrast with an oil by Van Horn from 2007, which shows the bridge surrounded by lush greenery much as Berninger’s oil from 1928 did.
And Joseph Skrapits’ 2013 oil is a beautiful piece that presents a somewhat romantic view from beneath the arches as the Little Lehigh flows between the spans. But while both artists rendered their subject in a realist manner, not all of the works fall into that category.
Rosemary Geseck’s oil pastel on paper, “Fauvist Eighth Street Bridge Circa 1913,” features a realistic view of the bridge, but with a cartoony coating of vibrant pinks and blues — an homage to the past rendered in contemporary style.
Some are even more interpretive.
Lee Leckey’s “Bridge 8,” is an encaustic and mixed media painted this year. The work is filled with cut paper, a crossword puzzle and hand-written text. The shape of the bridge is discernible as something of a metaphor, a thing of symbolism and text with meaning beyond its concrete structure.
“When Ann asked me to submit something for this exhibit I looked at the bridge and I went with pretty simple shapes,” says Leckey. “My work is abstract. There is a lot of laying with wax and paint and papers and gouache. Anything I could get my hands on.” The text, adds Leckey, represents the age of the subject and the cut paper soon turned into something analogous to the passage of time.
The same is true of Mike Sincavage’s “HAER #Pa-459,” also from this year, which presents a rising landscape of dark blue-purple and a small photo of the bridge that seems to float in mid-air.
Heather Sincavage offers what may be the most unique interpretation. “When I’m Almost There” is a sculptural piece made of hemispheres of cast paper coated with iron. It looks nothing like the bridge at first glance, but then one notices the sound loop of tires meeting sections of the road and the shadows cast by the mounds of paper and how they mimic the arches of the bridge. The work was inspired by the sounds Sincavage heard crossing the bridge on her way to art classes at the Baum School.
“I think it’s important that the students here see the connections on how the arts impact engineering, chemistry and a host of other disciplines,” says Lalik. “Just hearing the stories and seeing the work and all of its technical aspects is a real inspiration.”
“Every day we build figurative bridges to connect cultures, academic disciplines, generations of people, and more, always with the objective to prepare our students for the future.”
Tim Higgins is a freelance writer.
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‘CONNECTING THE FUTURE: THE EIGHTH STREET BRIDGE TURNS 100’
*What: Exhibit of 28 regional artists’ works depicting the bridge
*When: Through Dec. 20
*Where: The Gallery at Penn State СŷƵ, 2809 Saucon Valley Road, Center Valley
*How much: Free
*Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday and Saturday
*Special event: Reception and community event 2-4 p.m. Nov. 17 at the gallery. Includes a talk on the history of the bridge by Jill Youngken, assistant director of the Lehigh County Heritage Museum and poetry readings by the СŷƵ Writing Project, inspired by bridges. Guests will be greeted by Gen. Harry C. Trexler, portrayed by George Miller. A color catalog will be available; free to guests. RSVP to 8thstbridge@psu.edu or call 610-285-5004
*Info: 610-285-5000,
