Bridge Street Bridge - Seneca Falls, New York - Truss Bridges on Waymarking.com

This famous bridge known as the Bridge Street Bridge and located in Seneca Falls, is a minor waterways truss bridge on the New York State Canal System (Cayuga - Seneca Canal, Main Line) between Seneca Lake Entrance (Junction of the Cayuga - Seneca Canal with Seneca Lake at Geneva) (9 miles and 3300 feet and 1 lock to the west) and Erie - Cayuga-Seneca East Junction (Junction of the Erie and Cayuga-Seneca Canals) (10 miles and 2640 feet and 3 locks to the northeast).

The bridge is around 18 feet (5.5 meters) large and 150 feet (45 meters) long.

It was built in 1918.

The nearest place in the direction of Seneca Lake Entrance is Veteran's Memorial Bridge (1320 feet away).

The nearest place in the direction of Erie - Cayuga-Seneca East Junction is Ovid Street Bridge (1320 feet away).

The town of Seneca Falls is located in Seneca County. The east town line lies against Cayuga Lake with the town of Waterloo to the west. Seneca Falls is the birth place of the woman’s right movement, but also thought to be the inspiration for the fictional village of Bedford Falls in Frank Capra’s holiday classic movie “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey is deeply troubled. Prayers for his well-being from friends and family reach Heaven. Clarence Odbody, Angel Second Class, is assigned to visit Earth to save George. Convinced he's “worth more dead than alive” because of a life insurance policy, George contemplates suicide from a steel trestle bridge. Before he can leap, Clarence jumps in first and pretends to be drowning. After George rescues him, Clarence reveals himself to be George’s guardian angel. Clarence shows George what the town would have been like without him.

While Mr. Capra never acknowledged that Seneca Falls is the Real Bedford Falls, the similarities are hard to deny. Mr. Capra set Bedford Falls in New York State. Rochester, Buffalo, and Elmira are all mentioned in the movie and referenced as being fairly close. All three of these locations are an easy drive from Seneca Falls. Physical similarities between Seneca Falls and Bedford Falls are striking. The architecture along the main street and the steel truss bridge are only a couple of the similarities, Seneca Falls has many Victorian homes (like the large house George and Mary owned in the movie). The Erie Canal runs through Seneca Falls, Bedford Falls also has a canal. In 1945, when the movie was produced, Seneca Falls was a mill town, just like Bedford Falls.

A plague fixed on the bridge reads:

“The village of Seneca Falls may have inspired the hometown look of Frank Capra’s 1946 holiday film classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. Mr. Capra is known to have visited here in the mid-1940s, at the time the screenplay was being developed. Many similarities exist between Seneca Falls and the fictional “Bedford Falls.” Among these are the design of the Bridge Street bridge, the use of several place and personal names and the village’s geographical location”

Source: Jennifer Morrisey: Seneca Falls: George Bailey’s (It’s a Wonderful Life) Bridge, Internet

web: (visit link)

Parking Coordinates:: N 42° 54.520 W 076° 48.038 Date Built: 01/01/1915 Length of Span: around 150 feet (45 meters) www: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Log your find with a picture of the bridge with yourself or your GPS in the foreground. This shot does not have to be taken "on" the bridge. The shot should show the "truss" structure of the bridge as well.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   06/22/2023 PrairieRose78 visited it 09/21/2019 ripraff visited it 05/21/2018 Lestiv visited it 10/17/2017 22Bongo visited it 08/17/2017 jiggs11 visited it 07/22/2016 nomadwillie visited it

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