In 1929, the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge, also known as the Grace Memorial Bridge, was built to connect Charleston and Mount Pleasant as part of a highway system stretching from Florida to Maine. The 250-foot-tall bridge, which took 17 months and $6 million to build, was named in honor of John P. Grace (1874-1940), the 51st mayor of Charleston, who served two non-consecutive terms from 1911-1915 and 1919-1923 and whose legacies included implementing a street paving program and consulting contractors of the bridge about its legalities.
Once the bridge was completed, commuters were required to pay a toll so the builders could recoup their investment. For the next 17 years drivers reluctantly paid their coins at the toll booth until February 1946 when a cargo ship called the Nicaragua Victory crashed into the bridge, resulting in several casualties and tearing out a 240-foot section that cost $300,000 to repair. For months the bridge was inaccessible, so a one-lane crossing was built and ferries temporarily returned to shuttle motorists back and forth across the Cooper River.
When the state bought the bridge in June 1946, the tolls were removed, and a great celebration ensued. With much fanfare, then Gov. Strom Thurmond, Charleston’s Mayor Edward Wehman, Jr., along with Mount Pleasant’s Mayor Francis F. Coleman, kicked off a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the toll booth, festooned with a giant American flag, and drivers were immediately allowed to cross the bridge at no charge. Following the presentation was a parade along King Street where crowds lined the streets to view the decorative floats.
Since the bridge was now free for travelers to cross, increasing numbers of tourists began taking advantage of the opportunity to drive without interruption to the seaside resort of Isle of Palms. Established as a holiday retreat in 1897 by Dr. J.S. Lawrence, who built a public amusement and beach resort, the island had become renowned as “America’s finest and safest beach,” as well as a “must-visit” vacation destination, the perfect escape for relaxing and resting while the Atlantic breezes blew life’s worries away.
With the tremendous uptick in visitors came the need for added facilities and improvements, including a shore patrol, police protection, regular bus schedules, larger parking lots and electricity and telephone installation, along with a pavilion featuring live music and dancing for grown-ups and a surf deck boasting “able lifeguards to protect youths as well as over-enthusiastic adults.
Long before the toll was released, demand for property had been increasing on the Isle of Palms, where the original cottages at Palm Court had been constructed with summer as well as winter amenities in mind for year-round residents. But now, with the newfound surge in visitors from the releasing of the toll, came the obvious opportunity for expansion. With inadequate supply, there was still a housing shortage and property owners grew more and more enthusiastic about the available lots and houses rapidly being developed and bought.
By the 1950s, traffic congestion had increased exponentially and the Grace Bridge’s narrow two-way lanes no longer served the growing area. In 1966, a new three-lane bridge named for Silas N. Pearman, chief commissioner of the state highway department, opened next to Grace Memorial.
As the decades progressed, the contemplation of crossing Grace Memorial Bridge became more disturbing as safety concerns grew about the curb less connector. By 1995, it received a four out of 100 safety rating. Yet it, along with the Pearman Bridge, wasn’t demolished until between May 2005 and September 2007. In July 2005 it was replaced by the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, also known as the New Cooper River Bridge. After being dismantled, the pieces of the old bridges were taken out to sea and repurposed as a reef. A section of the bridge’s truss was preserved and placed in Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park.
To learn more about the releasing of the toll, watch “Freeing of the Toll on John P. Grace Memorial Bridge, June 1946” on IslandVibesIOP.com, courtesy of Hal Coste.
By Sarah Rose
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