The Bridge Project Home » Special Offer for Landmark Society Members
Help Save Rochester's Hojack Swing Bridge
Special Offer for Landmark Society Members 
The Hojack Swing Bridge Its History—and Its Future
Edited by Richard Margolis
125 pages, 10 x 10 inches, 86 photographs, maps & drawings. Edited by Richard Margolis with essays by Joanne Arany, Stuart Bolger, Mary Hamilton-Dann, Eric DeLony, Allan Isselhard, Emma Pollard Greer, Jim LaVilla-Havelin, Richard Margolis, Joni Monroe, Richard Palmer, Charles Roemer, Harold Russell, Peter Siegrist, Alan King Sloan and John Walsh.
The Hojack Swing Bridge, built by the King Bridge Company in 1905, carried trains across the Genesee River, on the Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburg line. It has been out of use since 1995 and the U. S. Coast Guard has ordered CSX Transportation to remove it because, they claim, it is a hazard to navigation. The bridge is the most interesting feature in the "Port of Rochester," is eligible for historic landmark status, and survived a similar threat ten years ago.
This book documents the history of the bridge, the region, and the railroads that used the bridge. Eric DeLony's essay describes the development of movable bridges, and Alan King Sloan, a descendent of the founder of the King Bridge Company, contributes an essay titled "Saving Old Bridges" that begins:
We save old lamps, old paintings, old quilts, old teapots, old cotton gins, old baseball cards, and old cars as valuable “collectables” to be admired and treasured for their artistic and historic merit. We do the same with old houses and factories, particularly if they can be “reused” for some modern purpose. But what about old bridges?
He goes on to answer that question.
There are lots of photographs, construction drawings, "stories about bridges," and a chronology that describes the campaign to save the bridge that started with Alan King Sloan's letter dated 1999. It traces the formation of the group SOB (that's "Save Our Bridge") and the sparring with various federal agencies over the future of the bridge. The book ends with possibilities for reuse.
Until January 31st, 2012
soft cover: $35.00 (including tax and postage, regularly $48.15)
You can also buy a hardcover version of the book for $59.95 (plus tax and postage) on the main page of the site.
Or send a check payable to
Richard Margolis
250 North Goodman Street
Rochester, New York 14607
Proceeds from the sale of the book will help with the effort to save the bridge!