Today, the Bay Bridge Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin remembers the celebration and activities during the opening of the bridge 79 years ago.
Newspapers of the day provided information about the Bay Bridge and the events surrounding the opening ceremonies.
First, the Vestkusten newspaper printed the schedule of events for November 12, 1936:
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November 12—Thursday:
10:00 AM Formation of maritime parade at Pier 48-A. Massed flight of Navy aircraft; 250 planes. Ceremony at Oakland Bridgehead to precede actual opening.
10:20 Start of Marine parade.
10:40 Dedication of new Bay Bridge; Governor Merriam to cut the link barrier at Oakland bridgehead.
11:00 Dedication of the bridge at San Francisco bridgehead by Governor Merriam and his party.
11:00 to 11:30 Stunt flying and maneuvers by Naval air force.
11:30 to 12:30 Air show by commercial aviators.
12:00 Noon. Pacific Coast Yacht regatta.
12:30 to 2:00 Aircraft parade.
1:00 to 4:00 Public inspection of U.S. fleet.
5:30 Lighting of bridge.
7:00 Searchlight display by Navy.
8:05 to 9:00 Fireworks from barge, central bridge pier.
10:00 Navy Ball.
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The Lodi News-Sentinel printed a synopsis of the festivities:
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Big Bridge Over S.F. Bay Is Opened
Button Press By President Starts Great Fete
San Francisco, Nov. 12.—
Amid the pomp and circumstance of California’s greatest celebration, dignitaries and 300,000 holiday seekers arrived in San Francisco today and witnessed the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland bay bridge and heard it proclaimed the world’s superlative engineering achievement.
At 12:30 pm President Roosevelt pressed a button in his White House office, lighting two green lights on the span and officially throwing the world’s largest bridge open to traffic.
Governor Frank F. Merriam made two speeches, one at the Oakland end of the bridge and the other at the San Francisco end. Then he cut a ribbon of silver and gold and announced the bridge formally open.
For the first time, and as a culmination to a 100-year-old dream, San Francisco’s crowded peninsula is linked with California’s inland valley empire and her sister cities on the eastern shore of the bay—Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Richmond and Albany.
The opening of the bridge renders obsolete the intricate system of ferry service which has served the bay cities since the pioneer days of California’s Old West. The ferries which have served as an outlet for San Franciscans to the other centers of the State’s population and agricultural regions will continue to operate but at greatly reduced schedules.
The bridge dwarfs other spans the world over. The George Washington bridge, the Queensboro bridge, the Brooklyn bridge in New York; the Delaware river bridge, the Quebec bridge and the Ambassador bridge in Detroit all could be placed end to end, and the San Francisco-Oakland bridge—23,000 feet long, 8.25 miles with approaches—still would out-measure them.
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The Deseret News provided another view of the bridge opening:
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San Francisco, Nov. 12.
The $77,000,000 Bay bridge, dreamed of and talked about for nearly a century and over three years in construction, opened to automobile traffic today amid all the fanfare the metropolitan center could create.
At 12:30 pm while ship whistles blast and warships boom salutes, traffice started over the 8.25 miles of water and tide and the structure crosses in linking San Francisco and Oakland.
Not even a prolonged maritime strike, paralyzing marine commerce in this major seaport dampened preparations for the celebration, which found San Francisco and Oakland streets festooned and garlanded for the occasion.
The festivities started at 10:35 am, when Governor Frank F. Merriam cut a golden chain on the Oakland side of the bridge. From there, the official party moved across the structure to the San Francisco side where the ceremony was repeated.
At 5:30 pm President Roosevelt was to press a button in Washington, turning on brilliant sodium vapor lights which make night traffic possible without headlights.
Today, tomorrow and Saturday, parades, regattas and social festivities will continue as thousands of automobiles try out the new traffic artery.
San Francisco police had their days off cancelled to allow extra details for handling expected traffic. Forty state high patrolmen were called in to assist. Tourist bureaus estimated 250,000 visitors were here to witness the opening,
The bridge of suspension, cantilever and truss construction is expected to handle 300,000 passengers today. Each car, if it contains not more than five persons will pay 65 cents toll charges. Each additional passenger will be five cents extra.
Rated as the costliest bridge in the world, the chain of spans also crosses the longest stretch of navigable water ever bridged.
Twenty-four workmen were killed in construction accidents and 1,157 were injured.
The structure has 51 piers, contains 152,000 tons of steel, and 1,000,000 cubic yards of concrete—enough to erect 35 buildings the size of the 28-story Los Angeles City Hall.
From San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island, two miles out in the bay, the bridge is of suspension units. A 500-foot tunnel through the top of the island leads to a 1,400-foot cantilever span, and five truss spans complete the cross to the Oakland side.
Passenger automobile travels a six-lane highway across the upper deck. On a lower deck are lanes for trucks and space for interurban railway tracks expected to be completed in 1938 for the millions of commuters who live in the East Bay area and work here.
The state built the bridge, using loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and in 20 years expects traffic to pay off the bonds and make the crossing free.
Travel time between San Francisco and the East Bay will be cut several minutes over the present ferry system.
The suspension units are from 200 to 216 feet above the water, sufficient for the largest vessels to pass underneath, and an average of 6,500 men were employed annually in the construction.
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The Bay Bridge Commemorative Silver Half Dollar Coin shows with an image of the Bay Bridge still under construction in the 1930s.
