A young girl holding a bouquet of roses leads an automobile festooned with American flags across the McGraw Street Bridge to kick off the celebration of its opening on September 16, 1936. Seattle City Engineer Clark Eldridge occupied the car making the inaugural crossing of the WPA-funded, $90,000 span. Eldridge designed several WPA-funded bridges during his tenure, including the adjacent North Queen Anne Drive Bridge, which also opened in 1936. The McGraw Street Bridge, which is located on McGraw between Second Avenue North and Nob Hill Avenue, replaced a rickety timber trestle and provided residents of the northeast side of the hill access to the Aurora Avenue Bridge, which opened in 1932.

Image courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archives, #10912