“Looking from the top of the roof on the Gator Bowl, you are looking at the Hart Bridge. Note the clear sky. Taken in 1965.” LS
The almost completed condition of the bridge indicates that Loyd Sandgren had the date wrong in the note that he attached to the print of this image a couple of decades after it was taken. Construction of the bridge was in the earliest stages 1965 and cross-referencing historic images from the Florida Times-Union’s archives show the concrete support structures on each side of the Saint Johns River were underway in the summer of 1966. The Isaiah D. Hart Bridge was not completed until 1967 with the final pieces of the steel structure being put into place in May of that year.
As an additional point of reference, the FSU letters in the South end zone of the old Gator Bowl helped date the image as well. The Florida State Seminoles played there twice in the 1960s. FSU’s first Gator Bowl appearance was January 2, 1965, against Oklahoma followed by their December 30, 1967 Gator Bowl game against Penn State. FSU won the first game 36 to 19 and tied the second 17-17. The bridge would not have been part of the view in 1965 but was newly completed for the 1967 game held at the end of the year.
Tags: 008857, architecture, bridge, college football, foortball, FSU, gator bowl, Hart Bridge, historic photograph, Isaiah D. Hart Bridge, Jacksonville Bridges, stadium, vintage photography
It had to be 1967 because that was the first year “slingshot” single post goal posts that we know so well now came out.