15/2/00
By Bev Darr
Courier-Post Staff Writer

Gene Rouse of NBC Radio in New York, Hannibal Chamber of Commerce President Frank Russell, local attorney George A. Mahan and Missouri Guy Gov. Park (all three in Hannibal), and Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch, Mark Twain's daughter, in Detroit.

The lighthouse has had numerous improvements, including stone steps added in 1947. After the original lighthouse was destroyed in a wind storm, a new one, also designed by architect John Martin, was built on the same location and dedicated March 24, 1963. President John F. Kennedy turned on the lights this time, also using a remote switch.

The original Mark Twain Memorial Bridge was approved in Washington in 1933. The next year preparations began in Hannibal with demolition of buildings at the Hannibal bridge approach. The bridge cost $1 million and is 2,636 feet long.

Roosevelt agreed to attend the bridge dedication, scheduled Sept. 4, 1936. A girls' ticket-selling contest was announced, with the winner to present the first bridge ticket to the president. Winner of the contest was 14-year-old Louisa McMein.

Roosevelt arrived in Hannibal by train at 9 a.m. Sept. 3, according to the Hannibal Courier-Post.

The bridge dedication was at 10 a.m. The estimated 75,000 people present heard addresses by Missouri Gov. Guy Park, Illinois Gov. Henry Horner, Hannibal Mayor Sinclair Mainland and Hannibal Chamber of Commerce President D.S. Griffith.

The crowd was described as the largest crowd in Hannibal history. Sixty newspapers were reported present to cover the day's events.

During his speech, Roosevelt said, "Hannibal had grown to 23,000 souls," was the seventh largest city in the state and the "fourth in bustling industry."

Noting the steamboat days of an earlier time period, Roosevelt said, "the old steamboat landing is still there," adding "the railroads and the buses and the trucks have not ended water transportation on the river."

Roosevelt mentioned both Admiral Robert E. Coontz and Mark Twain. The president said it had been a privilege to turn on the lights on the Mark Twain Memorial Lighthouse the previous year, adding "I myself as a boy had the happy privilege of shaking hands with him (Mark Twain). That was a day I shall never forget."

He said in place of the school from which Huck Finn lured Tom Sawyer, "you have 18 modern grade schools, a high school, parochial schools and a fine library."

Roosevelt credited Hannibal with having "one of the most successful municipal electric light and power plants in the country," and added the bridge marked progress that began with the railroad bridge in 1870.

Before Roosevelt cut the ribbon on the bridge, he was given his ticket by Louisa McMein. When he received his ticket, Roosevelt said, "Fine. ...Can I go across without paying?"

The bridge was a toll bridge for four years, until its indebtedness was paid off. A round trip ticket cost 50 cents.

Later Sept. 3, Central Park was the scene of band concerts, beginning at 12:45 p.m. There were motorboat races on the Mississippi River, and there was a boys' and girls' decorated bicycle parade. The boat race was won by Sam Graham.

At 7:30 p.m. band concerts began again in Central Park.

The bridge was officially lit at 7:45 p.m., and at 8 p.m. there were fireworks, followed by a street dance at 9 p.m. on the Hannibal bridge approach.

Some information for this article was in The Story of Hannibal by J. Hurley Hagood and Roberta (Roland) Hagood.