After more than 70 years of dreams, with many different plans for bridging the Straits of Mackinac, ground breaking to build the Mackinac Bridge took place in St. Ignace on May 7, 1954 and Mackinaw City on May 8. The photos on this page are from slides taken by my father, Lester Stokes, who lived less than a block from the foot of the Mackinac Bridge in Mackinaw City, and worked on the State Dock which served the automobile ferries until November 1, 1957, when the Mackinac Bridge opened and ferry service was discontinued. Most of his photos were accidentally lost a few years ago, but these few weren't stored with the others. Construction of the Mackinac Bridge began with the construction of the pillars. Caissons were constructed, floated into position and sunk to provide the footings for the two immense towers which would suspend the center span of the bridge. Once the caissons were in place, creeper derricks were added, which raised materials to erect the towers and continued to climb higher. The Mackinac Bridge roadway truss sections were assembled in sections and floated into position to be raised into place. Constructing the Mackinac Bridge actually went on into 1958 and took 48 months, 3,500 workers, 895,000 blueprints & structural drawings, 71,300 tons of structural steel, 931,000 tons of concrete, 42,000 miles of cable wire, 4,851,700 steel rivets, 1,016,600 steel bolts and 99,800,000 dollars. There were 350 engineers and another 7,500 men & women worked at quarries, shops, mills and other locations. When completed, the Mackinac Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world and it is currently the longest suspension bridge in North & South America and the third longest suspension bridge in the world. Mackinac Bridge home Mackinac Bridge groundbreaking 50th Anniversary 50th Anniversary of opening the Mackinac Bridge

Construction of the piers for the south end of the Mackinac Bridge, with Mackinac Island and Bois Blanc Island in the distance.

Crane and barrage used in the construction of the Mackinac Bridge. Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation's $25,735,600

contract to build all of the bridge's foundations resulted in the assembly of the largest bridge construction fleet ever assembled

up to that time.



The base of one of the Mackinac Bridge Towers being constructed within a 116' diameter caisson.

Dredging barge with the south anchorage of the Mackinac Bridge at left.

This is in mid summer 1955 and steel workers are assembling the two prefabricated main Mackinac Bridge towers.

Notice the automobile ferries in the background with the black smoke coming from the coal fired engines

The Mackinac Bridge towers are complete and the first two truss sections are in place at the two anchorages. This is very late in the

1955 work season or early in 1956.

Mackinac Bridge construction goes on hold during the winter of 1955-56.

This small park at the end of Sinclair Street is still a popular Mackinac Bridge viewing place today.

Work has not yet begun on the Mackinac Bridge approach and Michilimackinac State Park is still largely unaffected. Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Mighty Mac Home Copyright 1954 - 2017 by Keith Stokes . These photos may not be reproduced without written permission. .