Closing Ceremony | Bridge of Lions Rehabilitation Project

The Bridge of Lions was commemorated during a Closing Ceremony held Friday, May 26, 2006 at 10:00 a.m., prior to rehabilitation work beginning on the bridge. A sizeable crowd of locals and tourists watched as DOT 1, a 1920s era truck, was the last official last car to travel across the Bridge of Lions – a tribute to the bridge’s 1927 opening. Paul Williamson, Public Affairs Director for the City of St. Augustine, conducted the ceremony as remarks were heard by St. Augustine Mayor George Gardner and Florida Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Bill Craig, P.E. The St. Augustine Police Department presented Colors while soloist David Elder of Anastasia Baptist Church sang a touching rendition of America the Beautiful.

One of the highlights of the ceremony was the reconnecting of a silver ribbon. Mrs. Isabella Ingraham Heard, as a young girl, was an attendant in the party of Ms. Jean Rodenbaugh, the 10-year-old girl who cut a silver ribbon to officially open the Bridge of Lions in 1927. Mrs. Heard was assisted by Mayor Gardner and Mr. Craig in reconnecting a symbolic silver ribbon during the ceremony, in anticipation of being able to cut a silver ribbon once again upon the re-opening of the Bridge of Lions following its rehabilitation. The ceremony concluded with the official raising of the drawbridge for the last time prior to beginning rehabilitation.