Construction of the Ambassador Bridge

Developer Joseph Bower staged ceremonies May 7, 1927, with banker Joseph Austin's 16-year-old daughter, Helen, driving the first boring stake into Detroit ground. The U.S. Congress said construction on the Ambassador Bridge would have to begin by May 12, 1927, or the bridge franchise would expire. A boring stake determines the depth of the bedrock.

Construction on a bridge to connect Detroit and Windsor is underway in 1927.

A railroad car ferry passes and a crowd gathers as cable laying begins.

The last steel girder for the road deck is positioned, Sept. 18, 1928. The last steel girder for the road deck is positioned, Sept. 18, 1928.

High steel construction workers, Sept. 23, 1928.

Iron workers on a catwalk more than 150 feet about the river compact 37 component cables, made up of 218 steel wire, into one of the two main suspension cables Dec. 24, 1928. Three months later, the defective heat-treated cables would be completely replaced.

Suspender cables that will hold the road deck hang from the suspension cables.

Ambassador Bridge without the road deck.

Bridge deck, Detroit, Jan. 3, 1929.

Heat-treated steel cables were found defective in February 1929. All cables and road deck had to be replaced. Only the towers and approaches were not rebuilt.

A derrick and scow removed 16.5-ton steel floor beams. Six of the beams had been removed; the scow takes two of them with with supporting braces. The derrick was run out on tracks on the bridge deck, April 9, 1929.

Removal of defective cables, May 11, 1929. The heat-treated cables were replaced with cold-drawn wire at a $500,000 cost to the contractor.

Work continues on the Detroit approach, May 23, 1929.

Workmen loosen the anchor of the first strand on the each cable. The strands must be pulled out of the cable and laid on the cat-walks before the wires are cut with torches, May 23, 1929.

A truss is put into position

The last girder that will support the road deck is placed, Sept. 16, 1929.

Detroit approach on the Ambassador Bridge.

Thousands of veterans joined a crowd of 60,000 for the dedication of the bridge on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1929. A few days earlier, the stock market suffered its worst losses.

Dignitaries meet at the center of the bridge for the official opening, Nov. 11, 1929. When it opened, the Ambassador Bridge was the world's longest suspension bridge. The Great Depression reduced business to a level barely enough to sustain both the bridge and Detroit-Windsor tunnel, which opened in 1930.

Cars on the Detroit approach wait to cross to Windsor 10 days after the bridge officially opened.

The freighter Western States, passing under the Ambassador Bridge, opens the shipping season, March 31, 1931.