Historic bridge lit up

NORWAY — The historic quartz bridge on Main Street is lit up again after decades of being in the dark. Renovations, including rewiring, were recently completed on the bridge.

"We ran the conduit in the ground over to the first post and then underneath the bridge," said Heath Poland of Flanders Electric in Norway. Poland had to put on a pair of waders and get underneath the bridge with stepladders to bring the wire through a two-inch pipe that was snacked down one post and across to the other side.

Poland said the light is on a timer so it turns on and off with the darkness.

The 15-inch globes installed on top of each side of the bridge are standard ones used today but they look much like the ones seen in old pictures of the bridge, Poland said.

While no one seems to know the history behind the bridge, an undated photograph of it shows it with a round white globe on top of the post.

Town historian and Norway Historical Society curator Charles Longley said last month that he knows the bridge was there in 1939 when he was attending second grade in the nearby school.

The posts were also restored last summer by matching the stonework with quartz stones that were embedded in the new cement. The quartz stone is not as large as the original that can still be seen in the base of the bridge.

Norway Downtown President Andrea Burns said the bridge work was the initiative of Norway Downtown and the design committee to restore the bridge and the light. Design Committee member Tony Morra oversaw the project.

The project cost about $11,000 and was paid for by the town's community development grant money.

ldixon@sunjournal.com