PENTWATER SWING BRIDGE
Pentwater Swing Bridge, Photo Courtesy Pentwater Historical Society
In 1858, Pentwater Village residents petitioned for a ferry to cross the channel and the cable ferry was the answer to that request. See Pentwater Cable Ferry. By the 1920s, car traffic strained the ferry’s capacity. It was replaced by an abandoned Elk Rapids railroad bridge donated by the Pere Marquette company and the channel ferry was retired after 68 years of service.
The swing bridge was used to transport cargo and passengers from the south side of the lake to the north side and the business district. About 12-15 families year round made the trek year-round, and the large resort colonies on Lake Michigan used the bridge heavily during the summer season. Kids like to help bridge tender operate the bridge for sailboats and other large boats. The tender’s job was to push on the turn bar placed in the gear mechanism located in the center of bridge and then walk around in circles to either open or close the bridge. Although not officially sanctioned, swimmers also loved to use the bridge platform for jumping or diving in the channel. Pleasure boats and canoes waited their turn to move through the channel to Lake Michigan.
The only two known swing bridge fatalities included 52-year-old Mr. Burton Garvey and his daughter Rose Beatrice, age 23. On a December 1944 morning at 7:30 am, the two attempted to cross the bridge while it was in the open position. The car skidded on the north approach, crashed through the guardrail, and plunged into the 16-foot deep channel. The bridge had been open to allow the Stover & Fischer fishing tug to proceed to Lake Michigan.
Operational costs turned the bridge into a financial burden for the village. The aging structure needed ongoing repairs and the bridge required a full-time tender to open and close the bridge. Costs were estimated one year as one-third of the village’s total income of approximately $10,121. In 1947, Taxpayers turned down a .7 mill levy by 209 to 100. Bridge attendant John Verschueren agreed to be on duty 24-hours a day for $35 per week if the village would provide him a place to live adjacent to the bridge and Chamber of Commerce member, H.B. Shaw solicited funds from the Chamber, the Oceana Beach Association, and Garrison Park Association.
Finally in 1949, Claude Stover of the Oceana County Road Commission declared the swing bridge unsafe and closed it on June 12, 1949. On October 29, 1949, the village council awarded low-bidder Muskegon Marin Contractors Hinkle & Bultema the contract to remove the bridge, piling and timber for $975.00 A report claimed that the barge used to tow the Swing Bridge to Muskegon sank on the way.
Sources: “List History of Crossing the Pentwater Channel” by Leonore P. Williams, Ludington Daily News 6/27/1947. “Offers new Bridge Plan,” Grand Rapids Press 5/28/1947. “Old Mill Tracks,” Grand Rapids Press 11/10/1925. “Pentwater Bridge May Be Removed,” Grand Rapids Press 4/19/1946. “Pentwater Span Repairs Studied,” Grand Rapids Press 4/24/1946. “Pentwater Swing Bridge 1926 to 1949” by Ed Bigelow, Pentwater Pride, Pentwater Historical Society Fall Newsletter 2010. “Channel Bridge Closed as Being Unsafe,” Pentwater News 6/10/1949.The Pentwater Swing Bridge was given to the village by the Pere Marquette Railroad in 1925. It had been used in Elk Rapids before that.