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This is the Altoona Fourth Street foot bridge that connected Chestnut Avenue to Ninth Avenue. The bridge was originally constructed in the 1930s with huge beams and plank boards with metal railings and iron reinforcements. Until the 1950s, when the bridge was replaced and shortened, it had reached to the Chestnut Avenue sidewalk. As pictured here, the new bridge stairway was placed far back from Chestnut Avenue, just yards from the mainline tracks. It was built with large I-beams and metal step risers and railings. Wood planks were used for step treads and the bridge walkway. A side stairway was midway across the bridge on its south side for railroad personnel. This bridge was convenient to many and also provided a great location for railroad pictures and videos. It was closed and removed just after the turn of the century and never replaced. The photo was submitted by Charles J. LaMark of Altoona and taken by him in November 1974.
Readers are encouraged to send or deliver old local photographs of general interest for use in Yesteryear. Information about people and places should be included. Photos must be 30 years old or older and should be sent to Yesteryear, Altoona Mirror, P.O. Box 2008, Altoona, PA 16603, or emailed to community@altoonamirror.com. For more information, call Brenda Carberry, community news coordinator, at 814-946-7459.
Local news on this date:
Nov. 14, 1951
Sylvania Electric Products in Altoona, which employed 1,100 at its Pleasant Valley Plant, was to lease the nearby Blue and White Bus Lines Terminal building and hire 200 more workers for defense purposes. Blue and White, R. Long operator, was to build a new building nearby while some buses were stored at Beasley Motors.
Nov. 14, 1976
At a cost of $20,000, the former Friendship Fire Hall in Roaring Spring was converted into the new borough office, police office, council room and auto and equipment garages.
Nov. 14, 2001
PA Bureau of Narcotics Agent Randy Feathers told the students at Hollidaysburg Junior High about the dangers of drugs, saying "Heroin was the worst drug in the history of mankind."
Nov. 14, 2016
The Furious Fourth WWII Living History Group spent two days at the Horseshoe Curve learning and teaching attendees about Operation Pastorius, the German Nazi June 1942 plot to blow up the Curve.
Nov. 15, 1951
Richard Smith, 37, and his two sons, Raymond, 10, and Paul, 12, were killed when their car was hit by a Pennsylvania Railroad freight train in East Freedom. The family lived in East Freedom and was enroute to a hunting trip.
Sam Port of Frozen Farm Products Inc. of Altoona returned from a Chicken of Tomorrow Contest meeting in Harrisburg. The contest was sponsored nationally by the A&P Supermarket chain and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture for farmers and others raising chickens.
Nov. 15, 1976
A Denny's Restaurant opened in the Park Hills Plaza in Altoona, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner with Chris Kapp as manager. The chain had 550 locations and was also in Mexico, Canada and Japan. The firm also owned 650 Winchell Donut Houses.
Blair County Judges Robert C. Haberstroh and Robert B. Campbell approved a 3.5 acre land switch between Fort Roberdeau in Sinking Valley and landowner William DeMuth to give a connecting link to the fort from the old Kiwanis Health Farm.
Nov. 15, 2001
Altoona Curriculum Director Mary Lou Ray said that reading scores for fifth graders in Pennsylvania were down 10 percent but fifth graders in both the Altoona and Hollidaysburg School Districts were above average.
PA Turnpike marketing director Bill Cowher was reminding motorists that as of Dec. 15 the EZ-Pass electronic system would be used for drivers on all 37 exits of the turnpike.
Nov. 15, 2016
Little Rock Natural Remedies was sponsoring a Tea and Trees event at Lakemont Park Casino to support children who had lost a loved one, proceeds benefiting the Home Nursing Grief Services.
Wolf Furniture Co., WTAJ-TV and the Salvation Army combined for a program called "Coats For Kids" that tried to make sure every child had a warm coat this holiday season. Wolf stores in Altoona, Johnstown and State College were accepting donations.
National, world news on this date:
Nov. 14:
In 1889, journalist Nellie Bly began an attempt to travel around the world in 80 days; she would complete the journey in a little more than 72 days via ships, trains and other means of transport.
In 1965, the U.S. Army's first major military engagement of the Vietnam War began with the start of the five-day Battle of Ia Drang.
In 1969, Apollo 12 blasted off for the moon, three months after Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on it.
In 1970, a chartered Southern Airways plane crashed while trying to land in West Virginia, killing all 75 people on board, including the Marshall University football team and its coaching staff.'
In 1972, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the 1,000 level for the first time.
Nov. 15:
In 1864, late in the U.S. Civil War, Union forces led by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman began their "March to the Sea" from Atlanta; the campaign ended with the capture of Savannah, Georgia, on Dec. 21.
In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
In 1966, the spaceflight of Gemini 12, the final mission of NASA's Gemini program, ended successfully as astronauts James A. Lovell and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. splashed down safely in the Atlantic after spending four days in orbit.
In 1969, a quarter of a million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington against the Vietnam War.
Local news compiled by Tim Doyle. National, world news from The Associated Press.