When it opened in 1919 the University Bascule Bridge had timber approaches (above). These were replaced in the early 1930s with concrete supports (below).

PAUL DORPAT

Also on that day, a municipal photographer took this picture of the University Bridge from its Latona side. The bridge was dedicated 11 months earlier, when a Seattle Times reporter called it "the connecting jaws" between downtown and the University District. At the dedication the District's grand old orator, University of Washington history professor Edmond Meany, opined on the high status given bridge tenders in ancient Rome.

In 1920 the greatest part of the new bridge's cost and care went into the twin classical masses of its bascule center section. The timber pile approaches, however, distracted from this dignity, and soon they also began to rot. In 1930 voters elected to replace them with the concrete piers that still support the bridge.

When it was dedicated in 1933 with the blast of a horn and an unfurled American flag — both triggered telegraphically by Franklin Roosevelt from his White House in the other Washington — two outside lanes were added. These cantilevered lanes provided a small excitement for the driver who chose to swerve around the bascule abutments to reach the outer lanes on the grilled deck. I've crossed this bridge several thousand times, and I almost always chose that little thrill until they closed the outer lanes in 1972.

Paul Dorpat specializes in historical photography and has published several books on early Seattle.