Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-06
Enfntttg Grat

| Hill, just little to the western line
of Thirteenth and State streets. The
| exact length of the structure, as cal
culated by Arnold w. Brunner and
j. E. Greiner, who designed it, will
| be 2,6S7.5 feet, or a little more than
the length of the Susquehanna River
] bridges between the front steps
| of Harrisburg and the .city's island.
, AT its highest point, Cameron street.
1t will be fifty feet. The lines of the
| bridge are familiar to readers of The
| Harrisburg Telegraph through the
| publication of photographs of the
! model at the Capitol and it will be
a magnificent series of arches, right
on the line of State street and con-
tinuing the scheme of the civic CEN
| ter of the Commonwealth, as Mr..
Brunner styles his Capitol plans, out
the 120-feet wide thoroughfare laid
down more than a century and a
quarter ago by the men who planned
| the present city of Harrisburg. Some
day, some day when we are all dead,
| perhaps, there will be a similar
bridge stretching from the western
| front of the Capitol, out State street
and over the Susquehanna to the
Cumberland shore. 1t is part of
a wonderful dream that will make
the Harrisburg of years to come IA
nous throughout the land.
|
Some idea of the immensity of the
work connected with the designing
and building of this bridge can be
gained from the fact that the specifi-
| cations for prospective bidders re-
quire 165 typewriter pages. The
specifications for the construction of
the State Capitol, which has
greater circumference than ST.
Peters at Rome, alone are greater
in Nn1nn1n far ac To ;.t,,
projects are concerned. These speci-
hcations and plans have been
checked not only by the engineers
in the Department of Public
Grounds and Buildings, but of the
Safe Highway Department and
verified by the engineering expert
of the Auditor Generals Depart
ment.
The great bridge will run from
about the intersection of State and
t1lbert streets, speaking generally,
and will be eighty feet wide. The
sidewalks will be twelve feet wide
This will leave a clear highway
space of tifty-siX feet, or eight feet
more than the highway width of
Market street. On either side of the
driVeways will be granite copings
twelve inches high. They will be
continuous pieces of the hardest
granite that can be bought and suf-
hclent to- daunt the ambitions of
the widest truck or automobile that
should take notion to go on the
sidewalk. Two approaches are
planned. One at Royal Terrace on
the south side of State street will
be about thirty feet high. The other
which Will give access from Cam
eron street will go upon the upper
side of the bridge along the line of
the old driveway into the Harris
burg cemetery. There will be a very
ornate stairway from Cameron street
for pedestrians and means of access
to the bridge will be at other points,
while comfort stations will be estab-
lished at certain places.
The memorial pylons for the
bridge, which will be located at
either side of the entrance to the
bridge at the end of the Capitol
Park and on a line with the rows
of trees that will lead from the
building toward the railroad lines
will tower sixty feet into the air
They will be huge structures on
classic lines rising almost as high
as The Harrisburg Telegraph build
ing. On their fronts and sides will
be allegorical groups representing
the two great arms of national de-
fenSe, the Army and the Navy, and
within will be chambers, twenty by
twenty feet, which will contain the
names of every Pennsylvania soldier.
sailor and marine in the war. These
memorials will be built of ENDURING
granite and will last as long as Har-
risburg, an imperishable record OF
the gratitude of a Commonwealth to
militant sons. The pylons are Mr.
Brunner's idea of something distinc-
tive, something that will arrest and
hold attention, something wherein to
enshrine names of men from every
county of PENIS State.
The second great project of the
Capitol improvements contemplated
this year is a two fold one. 1t H.
separate from the Capitol Park
landscaping and surrounding of the
park with coping with a circle at
Third and Walnut streets and
formal entrance at State and Third
streets, which form the third prop
osition. The second is the office
building and terrace. In days to
come the State will have four office
buildings, one a great educational
structure, in Capitol Park extern
sion. With the present State House
they will form three sides of court
dedicated to the people of Penn
sylvania, the pylon and the bridge
entrance making the fourth side.
The office building will be 2S0 feet
long by 80 feet wide, six stories of
granite. Along it's northern side will
be a granite terrace, the first section
of an architectural gem. AS build
ings are erected this terrace will be
extended and it will be topped with
a balustrade that will recall the
glories of France. The office build
ing will have its center on the center
line of the present State Library
Building and beginning about where
the Fourth street plant of the Har-
risburg Electric Company used to
stand will run toward the railroads.
it's end being not far from that which
used to be the corner of South and
Short streets OF other days. When it
is finished it will be connected with
the level of the Capitol by the ter
race and Fourth street will be wiped
out, traffic being swung over to the
new highway about on the line of
Aberdeen and East streets.
The bridge over the PENNSYLVANIA
Railroad which will be replaced by
the Memorial was built about 1873
and was considered one of the hand
soonest short bridges in this section.
1t took the place of a wooden bridge
built many years before. The pres
ent bridge bore the p. r. r. initials
and for years the railroad attorneys
and city authorities fought over
| m a n