Weirs Beach Footbridge
 

I would like to ask for help in a historical mystery. I am trying to find out more about when and how the footbridge over the railroad tracks from Lakeside Avenue to the Winnipesaukee Marketplace (former Lakeside House/Hotel) was constructed. Was it built on the spot or transported in sections from elsewhere? It certainly is a major landmark of Weirs Beach that has not previously attracted any historical attention. It is not in Warren Huse's book "The Weirs", and it is not on any historic postcard that I've seen.

As a starting point, McDude's post of the Lakeside House here shows a postmark date of 1919, and on that postcard, there is no bridge, so I would deduce the bridge was put up in the 1920s, or later.

Addendum #1: In a private email, Senter Cove Guy just wrote me :
"If you look again at McDude's postcard, you'll see where it says, "Come Over The New Bridge". Seems to indicate the bridge was just built."

Reply: I'm not sure if the "Come Over the New Bridge" ad refers to the footbridge. It might refer instead to the wooden bridge to Centenary Ave that carries vehicles, and that also has a pedestrian sidewalk separated by a wooden beam, that is located behind the Weirs Beach General Store, just a few feet up Lakeside Ave from the footbridge. This raises additional questions:

1) When was the wooden bridge built?
2) What is the date of the ad that accompanies McDude's postcard?
3)When did Edward T. Milton own the Lakeside House? Did he own it before or after George W. Weeks (for whom Weeks St., the street where the building is located, was obviously named) owned it?

McDudes postcard here indicates it was owned by Weeks in 1912. Rattlesnake Gal's postcard here indicates it was owned by Weeks in 1892.

To answer my own question, it would seem that Milton owned it after Weeks, and that the ad probably does refer to the footbridge. Old photos of Weirs Beach (see Warren Huse's "The Weirs" p. 35, p.70-top) show the wooden bridge was there as early as circa 1880.

However, the exact year and method of construction still remain to be solved.

Addendum #2: McDude just informed me that the ad "Come Over the New Bridge" was clipped from a recent copy of the Weirs Times. Where the Weirs Times got it from, who knows?

http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...bridge_001.jpg

1897 - From "A Weirs Souvenir"

Weirs Footbridge
 

Thanks for the photo, McDude. I did eventually find out the answer to my own question, thanks to Warren Huse. The footbridge was constructed in 1917 by Edward T. Milton, who owned the Lakeside House from 1913-1925. Milton erected the footbridge "to afford easier access to the Lakeside for auto parties". Here's a 2008 Motorcycle Week photo. The bridge looks really nice when it's lit up.

This is on a different subject but relates to William Ames.
An old timer on Veasey Shore Road told me that A William Ben Ames used to write movie plays in a small cottage that sits on the lake on Veasey Shore Road. He said the cottage was won in a poker game on Beaver Island and then dragged across the ice to Veasey shore.
Any truth to this story?

Footbridge
 

Hello,
I stayed at the Lakeside from 1965 until it closed. i think if you look up Donald Favreau who was the last owner you will see this quote on the advertisment and history of the hotel. this is copy pasted from an old brochure.
Built in 1880 by George W. Weeks, for which Weeks Street is named, the Winnipesaukee Marketplace was originally a hotel, known as the Lakeside House. It was owned by Mr. Weeks from 1880-1912. Edward T. Milton, who owned it from 1913-1925, erected the footbridge in 1917 “to afford easier access to the Lakeside for auto parties”. In the late 1940′s, the name was changed to the Lakeside Hotel (see picture below) by its new father-and-son owners, Albert and Donald Favreau. In 1986, it became the Winnipesaukee Marketplace.