THE DAY THE HONEYMOON BRIDGE COLLA P SE D By Andrew Hind
Photos from the private collection of Sherman Zavitz
The massive Honeymoon Bridge threatened to collapse into the Niagara Gorge below. Metal girders supporting the span were heaving and would soon break apart, like river ice at the spring thaw. Moments before, creeping onto the crippled structure had seemed like a harmless adventure for Douglas and Wesley Styles, aged 12 and 13. But as the bridge swayed underfoot and the metal groaned threatening, the two looked at one another aghast, eyes wide in terror. What had begun as mischievous fun now seemed like a terrible, and perhaps fatal, mistake The metal beneath them shivered and writhed again. Douglas and Wesley ran for the safety of shore. They reached the shore just as the metal bowed and buckled and then, with a thundering groan, the Honeymoon Bridge collapsed into the river below. Douglas and Wesley collapsed. They were silent, the nearness of their death bearing down on them like a crushing weight. When Douglas finally broke the awful silence, only one thing
emerged from his quivering lips: “I hope Mom doesn’t find out about this.” Mom did find out. Indeed, all of North America found out. The collapse of the Honeymoon Bridge on January 27, 1938, captured the attention of millions on both sides of the border and newspapermen, anxious for additional drama to sell the story, focused on the experiences of the Styles boys as a thrilling sidebar to what was already a thoroughly captivating story. The Honeymoon Bridge, so-called because so many newlyweds crossed from the United States on their way to romantic honeymoons in Niagara Falls, Ontario had been built forty years earlier, in 1898. It represented an engineering marvel for its day. For exactly four decades the Honeymoon Bridge dominated the profile of the Niagara River gorge looking downstream from the falls. Then, in late January, 1938, this proud pinnacle of engineering was suddenly brought crashing down by the forces of nature.
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