LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - APRIL 7, 2019 by Lynne Belluscio I try to watch Ebay for interesting stuff and recently this photograph appeared. I thought it should be in our collection. The caption caught my attention: “Town of Le- Roy Genesee County. View of bridge at Haskins Cross- ing of the B.R. &P.R.R. The highway formerly crossed at grade.” I looked at a couple of maps that showed the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Rail Road route through LeRoy and came to the conclusion that this was the overpass at the end of Gilbert Street, before Lapp Insulator was built and before the Munson Street Extension was built to East Bethany Road. The 1906 map clear- ly shows the road going over the railroad tracks. The photo was taken out of the 1900 New York State Rail Road Com- missioner’s Report. In a later issue of the Commissioners report, it was noted that the bridge cost $8375.64 and that the State paid $2093.91. The bridge was 100 foot long and 20 foot wide. The approach on one side was 220 feet and the other about 200 feet and it pro- vided a clearance of 20 feet 6 inches. The McCormick Com- pany of Philadelphia won the contract for construction, even though the local government encouraged the hiring of a lo- cal contractor. One question was why was it called Haskin’s Cross- ing. I figured it was because Haskin’s Mill was nearby, on the Oatka Creek. The dam that you can see at Munson Street, provided water for a couple of mills on that site, including the Haskins Mill on the west side. But that theory proved wrong when I looked at an earlier map and discovered that the road crossed the railroad on farmland owned by Haskins. It had nothing to do with the mill site. I posted the photo on “LeRoy Then and Now” and several folks chimed in with stories about the overpass. Don Saulsbury sent a notice from the May 31, 1899 LeRoy Gazette: “Work preparatory to erecting the new highway bridge over the Haskin’s cross- ing was commenced on Mon- day morning. About a dozen men were employed and the number will soon be doubled.” The bridge opened on February 6, 1900. For some reason, the approaches to the bridge were almost at right an- gles which caused a lot of trou- ble for some folks, who took the bridge too fast, or forgot to turn. In the 1970s, Frank Pren- tice’s mother missed the turn and flew off the bridge, but she was ok. The bridge was one lane with a wooden deck. Da- vid Dewey said that when he worked at Lapp, the first shift would get out, but they would all wait at the bridge to let all the guys coming in from Perry and parts south for the second shift, cross the bridge first, so they wouldn’t be late for work. The school bus had to go over the bridge, and Brian Dwyer said that if you sat in the back, you’d bounce right off your seat as the bus hit the bridge. Just going over the bridge in a car scared Sue Forsyth Cac- camise, who said she’d get on the floor and hold her breath until they were over. “ I can re- member my life flash in front of me a couple of times going over that bridge. A friend took it at almost 50 miles an hour. I thought we were goners.” Folks in town used the bridge to get to Jug City and to go swimming. I found in the Gazette references to repair. In the 1920s the deck was repaired. By the 1970s the bridge was really showing its age. Tiny Lee asked John Ellingham to photograph the bridge to show the holes in the wooden deck as proof of its poor condition Tiny used the photos to have the bridge closed and it was removed. John said he thinks he was the last person to cross the bridge in 1977, before the signs and barricades went up. Friday, I drove out that way and I could still see the stone abutment on the east side, from East Bethany Road. And I learned that south of Haskins Crossing is a railroad bridge across the Creek. Known to locals as “the trestle” it was a favorite hike but very danger- ous, since there was no way to escape on coming trains. Haskin’s Crossing