All Over The Map: 鈥楪alloping Gertie鈥� name is shrouded in mystery
May 17, 2019, 7:57 AM | Updated: 8:11 am
It might seem odd to write a story about the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge in May. However, it鈥檚 actually a perfect time to explore a mystery surrounding the nickname of that infamous long-ago span connecting Tacoma and the other side of Puget Sound.
The original bridge was unofficially dubbed 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� because it was so flexible and so sensitive to wind, that it really did bounce up and down and twist and roll from side to side to a dramatic and alarming degree. Since 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� was a clever and spot-on nickname, it really stuck.
Traffic first crossed the bridge in July 1940. Then, just four months later, on November 7, 1940, the span famously disintegrated in a windstorm, and debris tumbled into the Narrows below.
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Fortunately, no human lives were lost, though a three-legged cocker spaniel named Tubby was. Tubby was in a car abandoned on the bridge deck by a newspaper reporter. is one of the most iconic pieces of 20th century media. For those of a certain age, watching it over and over again on a film loop viewer in junior high was a kind of analog precursor to YouTube.
And while the cause of the collapse was ultimately determined by forensic engineers to be the 鈥渕ystery鈥� part of this story that still remains to be solved is where the 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� nickname came from.
Galloping Gertie
Earlier this week, Scott Williams, Cultural Resources Program Manager for WSDOT, checked with retired WSDOT historian, and , Craig Holstine. Holstine reported back that Rick Hobbs, who about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, believes the nickname probably originated with the workers building the bridge.
A search of online newspapers prior to 1940 turns up several examples of many non-bridge things called 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� long before the Tacoma Narrows Bridge was built, including:
- A toy mechanical goose in the 1930s
- An Australian racehorse in the 1930s
- A Seattle speedboat raced by Arthur Low in 1930 in the 鈥淥lympia to Seattle 60-mile outboard marathon鈥�
- An amusement park funhouse near Rochester, New York that could date to as early as the 1920s
- A teenager鈥檚 jalopy in Decatur, Illinois in 1926
One theory about the origin of 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� also turns up on two fairly trustworthy websites, including an old WSDOT and something called A long entry on 鈥淭oday In History鈥� claims that the 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� nickname was first applied to an earlier suspension bridge that also bounced up and down way back in the 1840s and 1850s.
This earlier putative 鈥淕ertie鈥� is the iconic , which still crosses the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. And it was on this very day 165 years ago, May 17, 1854, when the original version of that bridge was also destroyed in a wind storm (actually, a tornado).
But this theory of the earlier 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� serving an eponymous role for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940 proved difficult to confirm.
Laura Carroll is an archivist with the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling, West Virginia. In an email last week, she wrote 鈥淪everal of my colleagues here at the library have done some digging … the general consensus is that the assertion that the Wheeling Suspension Bridge ever had the nickname 鈥楪alloping Gertie鈥� is not accurate.鈥�
Carroll also suggested reaching out to , a retired professor at West Virginia University. Dr. Kemp is the preeminent expert on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, and has written the about it.
Reached at his home earlier this week and asked if he鈥檚 ever run across any connection between Tacoma鈥檚 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� and the bridge in West Virginia, Dr. Kemp was unequivocal.
鈥淚’ve been working on that bridge for more than 20 years,鈥� Kemp said. 鈥淭here is no evidence 鈥� I have file boxes full 鈥� of that term ever being used for the Wheeling Bridge.鈥�
It seems that much like other persistent Pacific Northwest legends such as Sasquatch or D.B. Cooper, the origins of 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� will also likely remain shrouded in mystery.
After 鈥淕alloping Gertie鈥� collapsed, it took nearly a decade to replace it. But, by the time that the new bridge opened to traffic on October 13, 1950, it had already earned a nickname of its own.
Trouble is, that 1950 replacement bridge has long outlasted the original, but 鈥淪turdy Gertie鈥� just didn鈥檛 stick.
