San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, California
Posted by: 
hykesj
N 37° 48.520 W 122° 21.889
10S E 555912 N 4184777
The “Bay Bridge,” as it is known locally, connects the cities of San Francisco and Oakland and can be seen on this 2002 postage stamp offering greetings from California.
Waymark Code: WM13FQT
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2020
Views: 7
In the early 1850s, at the beginning of the gold rush, ocean-going vessels were the primary means of transportation to and from California and the city of San Francisco was the main port of entry. But with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the people of San Francisco feared that they would soon be playing second fiddle to Oakland on the eastern side of the bay. Almost immediately, there was talk of building a bridge over the bay connecting the two cities. (There was also talk of a bridge connecting San Francisco to what would become Marin County to the north.)
Bridges spanning such great distances must have seemed like a pipe dream in the nineteenth century, but in the 1930s, both dreams were realized. Although construction of the Bay Bridge began after the Golden Gate Bridge in 1933, it was completed before it, opening for traffic in November of 1936. (The Golden Gate Bridge opened a few months later in April of 1937.) The opening of the Bay Bridge was accompanied by great fanfare including an appearance by former U.S. President, Herbert Hoover.
The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is actually a series of bridges spanning the four-and-a-half-mile distance between the two cities via Yerba Buena Island which is located in the middle of the bay. The stamp shows the western half of the bridge as seen from Yerba Buena Island with the San Francisco skyline in the background. This part of the bridge is actually two suspension bridges back-to-back coupled by a central anchorage.
The 2002 “Greetings from California” postage stamp is the second U.S. stamp to show the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. One of these two suspension bridges appeared on a 1947 international airmail stamp paying the 25c trans-pacific rate in effect at that time.
Stamp Issuing Country: United States
Date of Issue: 4-Apr-2002
Denomination: 34c
Color: multicolored
Stamp Type: Single Stamp
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
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