The Legend of Galloping Gertie

The beautiful bridge that was doomed to failure

Public domain photograph — historical image of Washington State, United States, free to use, no copyright restrictions image (picryl.com)

I saw the Narrows Bridge die today, and only by the grace of God escaped dying with it. I have been near death many times in my life, but not even in my worst experiences in France did I feel the helpless horror that gripped me when I was trapped on the bridge this morning.

— Leonard Coatsworth (copy editor at the Tacoma News Tribune, daily newspaper)

Galloping Into History

The year was 1940. The Axis powers were making favorable gains on fronts in Europe, Africa, and Asia. In fact, between Germany and Italy, most of Western Europe was controlled by them. Only England remained.

Here in America, the pain of the Great Depression was finally beginning to ease. Americans were earning more, buying more, and thus refueling the economy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for a third term as President of the United States, and his New Deal domestic recovery programs were being used to help bolster and stabilize the U.S. economy.

One of those New Deal programs was the construction of a mile-long suspension bridge linking the City of Tacoma to the Kitsap Peninsula. When completed, it would be (in the year 1940) the third-longest suspension bridge in the world.