What's in a name: Gandy Bridge
The Brief
Developer George Gandy funded the first bridge linking Tampa and St. Petersburg in the 1920s.
It took $3 million and 1,500 workers to finish the 2.5-mile span.
The Gandy Bridge was replaced in 1956, expanded in 1976, and expanded again in 1996.
TAMPA, Fla. - Without a bridge in sight at the turn of the 20th Century, a trip from Tampa to St. Petersburg was a 50-mile, all-day trip.
"Through driving or horse-drawn carriage, either method would take several hours," says Tampa Bay History Center historian Rodney Kite-Powell.
But developer George Gandy looked out over the water in St. Pete, and thought he'd change that.
"He had this almost kind of fantastical idea of creating a bridge that would cross the lower end of Tampa Bay, connecting St. Petersburg and Tampa's Interbay peninsula," says Kite-Powell.
Using his own money, Gandy began construction in September 1922.
It took $3 million – equivalent to about $56 million today, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – and 1,500 workers to finish the 2.5-mile span. It opened as a toll bridge in 1924.
"So, every time you went across that bridge, George Gandy was 10 or 25 cents richer, whatever the fee was at the time," says Kite-Powell.
He says the bridge was a game changer for the Tampa Bay area.
"It changed the connections between Tampa and St. Pete. It made that connection so much easier. The automobile also, at the same time, was becoming much more available to the average middle-class family."
George Gandy lived to the age of 95. The Gandy Bridge was replaced in 1956, expanded in 1976, and expanded again in 1996.
The Source
Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13 senior producer Corey Beckman and traffic anchor Alyse Zwick.
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