Celebrating WA bridges: `Galloping Gertie'
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![WashingtonStateArchives_TacomaNarrowsBridge_AR-WSDOT_201408-02_2359T-Tower5Tower_410-5-1939 WashingtonStateArchives_TacomaNarrowsBridge_AR-WSDOT_201408-02_2359T-Tower5Tower_410-5-1939](/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/2022-05/WashingtonStateArchives_TacomaNarrowsBridge_AR-WSDOT_201408-02_2359T-Tower5Tower_410-5-1939.jpg?itok=nmsjeSPs&uid=66828fdb9b6d6)
(Photos courtesy Washington State Archives)
Throughout October, our State Archives is playing tribute to Washington’s historic bridges as documented in its collections as it celebrates Archives Month. In fact, this year’s free Archives Month poster features a dozen photos of historic WA bridges. Today we are featuring two photos of the infamous first Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which collapsed in a windstorm on Nov. 7, 1940, just months after opening . The top photo shows early construction of the bridge in 1939. The bottom image features two people walking on one of the bridge’s main cables just nine days after the collapse of “Galloping Gertie.”Image
![UniversityWashingtonLibraries__Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_November_16_1940PH290_65 UniversityWashingtonLibraries__Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_November_16_1940PH290_65](/sites/default/files/styles/max_2600x2600/public/2022-05/UniversityWashingtonLibraries__Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_November_16_1940PH290_65.jpg?itok=tWgngbfe&uid=66828fdb9c486)
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