Lockport's Upside Down Bridge
What is that?
Well, Buzzfeed called it one of the weirdest things in New York State. It's got a solid very good rating by tourists on Trip Advisor. A number of contributors there and on Roadside America.com say it's just a great, big mystery!
There are all kinds kinds of stories about about this topsy-turvy Western New York attraction. Down is up and up is down.
Who knows why??!
His name is Craig Bacon, actually.
"Just like the food. Just as awesome," he explains.
Craig is the Deputy Niagara County Historian. He knows why and he will be the first one to tell you this whole Upside Down Bridge thing is good, old-fashioned Western New York bullsh...uh, hogwash.
Let's go with hogwash.
It went something like this:
Kate: The Upside Down Bridge is not upside down.
Craig: No.
Kate: At all...
Craig: No (slight pause) It's a wonderful story!
We could just drop the mic there and all go home but who doesn't love a wonderful story?
"There's a lot of urban myths about it," Craig begins before detailing the various tales including a theory that they bridge was purposely built upside down to impede canal traffic.
They didn't.
"It's one of the highest clearances on the canal," says Craig, adding, "some guy told me a couple years ago the reason they built it upside down was to stop planes from flying underneath it."
That guy was wrong.
Craig explains, "it was built in 1902 which was over a year before the Wright Brothers flew their first plane at Kittyhawk. So--there's a lot of stories."
So, what's the real story?
First of all, the bridge was born this way. It's a Baltimore Deck Truss design. What makes it look weird, actually makes it more versatile.
"It actually allowed them to have a narrower bridge. It allowed them to put wider loads across without having to worry about the train becoming derailed because of the super structure above it."
So how did that other story get started?
Let's just say it was the 1970s.
**cues funk music**
Already capitalizing on the canal, creative marketing minds saw an opportunity to turn convention on its head and for the bridge to carry much more than just trains through Lockport. A tourist-attracting legend was born. The rest is slightly more intriguing history.
"We come across that a lot with history," Craig explained. "Everybody tries to embellish even with our own history and we talk about things that happened when we were kids
and it's always a little bit farther of a jump or we were driving just a little bit faster."
This tendency to enhance the truth makes the work of historians like Craig all the more important and the discovery of places like Lockport and it's not so Upside Down Bridge all the more interesting.
What is That?
Depends on how you look at it.
For Craig, there are many more true stories to tell.
"All of Western New York--we have such a wonderful, rich history. There's so much out there and maybe if you start with an Upside Down Bridge, you'll find other things."
And that is the upside to all of this. The unusual bridge and of course the canal have attracted lots of people to Lockport and they are certainly happy to welcome them.