The Winamac Town Park’s “swinging bridge” could get decorative lighting along with some other upgrades, in honor of its upcoming centennial. The bridge was dedicated on July 4, 1923. Now, Greg and Brenda Henry are spearheading the effort to celebrate that history. “I think that between now and the Fourth of July of 2023, if we could maybe put something together and rededicate it, spruce it up, do some repairs, whatever needs to be done to it,” Greg told the Winamac Park Board last week. “The people that use that bridge, it’s endless. I mean I can say, I don’t know of any other landmark in Winamac that has more meaning than the swinging bridge for this town.”
He added that while many residents simply call it the “swinging bridge,” some may forget that its actual name is the Memorial Bridge. “The bridge is meant for service people that served, not only deceased, but the living,” he explained. “It’s for all generations, from the past on into our future.”
To celebrate the bridge’s centennial, the Henrys are asking the town to look at installing a decorative lighting feature. Greg suggested something similar to the lights on Fort Wayne’s Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge. It features colored lights on the bridge’s vertical beams. As an alternative, board members also discussed putting lights underneath the bridge that would shine down onto the water.
Board member and town manager Brad Zellers mentioned that the bridge was last inspected in 2015, and it was found to be structurally sound. “I think the only thing that book recommended what painting it,” he said. “It needs painted. And we actually put in, when we put in for some of these other grants around, we put in for that, to try to get that. One reason they didn’t give it to us, if we would’ve checked ahead of time to see if there was lead paint on it, we would’ve got that. So that’s something we can reapply, and they said if we reapply, we’ll probably get it.”
Beyond that, town officials also believe there are grants available specifically for projects like this one. Greg Henry added that he’d be willing to work with the American Legion and VFW to help raise money.
The park board plans to make an official decision about whether to move forward with the project during next month’s meeting. Park Board President Courtney Poor said the next steps would be to come up with a plan and cost estimate, and then research possible grant opportunities.
