COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

This week, we went back to a Bullis Book Chronicles post made 4 years ago, to an entry that highlighted a book in the Bullis collection connected to the Aldrich Change Bridge. In case you're not familiar with this bridge, it's located in Macedon and Palmyra's Aqueduct Park.

We're pasting this previous post in below, in case you missed it the first time around.  (If you've already read this post, please scan down to "This week."

"Thursday, July 29, 2010

SQUIRE WHIPPLE'S BOOK

One of the special books in the Bullis Collection is titled: An Essay on Bridge Building: containing analyses and comparisons of the principal plans in use: with investigations as to the best plans and proportions, and the relative merits of wood and iron for bridges, by Squire Whipple (Utica, NY: H. H. Curtis, 1847).

A visitor to the Bullis Room this last week stopped by to look at this book again. The book and its author are of interest to many local people because the Aldrich Change Bridge, which was rescued from abandonment and re-erected in Macedon and Palmyra's Aqueduct Park during 2003 and 2004, was originally built in 1858 from a design by Squire Whipple.

We're not sure how this book came to be a part of the Bullis Collection, but it is invaluable as a source of bridge building techniques. If you haven't visited Aqueduct Park recently and looked at the Aldrich Change Bridge, we encourage you to do so this summer. Thanks to Squire Whipple's knowledge and a group of local volunteer bridge enthusiasts, it's there for us to appreciate and enjoy. "

This week we have an update to this post. On July 23, 2014, twelve members of the crew who reconstructed the bridge in Macedon and Palmyra's Aqueduct Park met for a special award presentation at the base of the bridge.  Erie Canalway Commission Chair Russ Andrews and Commissioner Vicky Daly presented an Award of Commendation from the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor to the Friends of the Aldrich Change Bridge.  This award was in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the completion of the change-bridge project.

Here's a photo of members of the bridge crew who attended the ceremony, standing on their success.

Following the presentation,  several of the crew shared with their colleagues, as well as members of the community, memories of their bridge-building experiences. Jay Harding, the project's coordinator, received many accolades for the ideas, leadership, inspiration, and energy he put into the whole process.  Those present agreed that the success of the project resulted from a dedicated group of volunteers, like Jay, who were willing to get involved in their community and work together to accomplish a successful completion of their goal.

Community involvement--we think Nettie Bullis would have liked this. Very much.