FORT DODGE, Iowa — Back in 1968 Fort Dodge built a bridge across the middle of town. The bridge was dubbed “Veterans Bridge” back then, but few people ever called it that. Recently the bridge was set to undergo some modernizations.
“The fall of 2022, Tom Dorsey was leading our American Legion meeting and said, ‘What do you think? Well the Veterans bridge is going under some maintenance let’s group together to try to do some enhancements to it,’” said Mike Larson, or the Veterans Bridge Committee. “I said, ‘That sounds like a great idea Tom, now where is veterans bridge?’”
As it turns out, not too many people knew where the bridge was. Even though it did have a small plaque with its name and date it was built.
A lot of people from the community got involved and created a fundraising goal of $500,000. The group decided to move forward, and to name the bridge after the longest running mayor of the community, Albert Habhab.
“He was a wonderful man, great mayor of our community, he was the longest serving mayor in our community he served 14 years as mayor,” said Matt Bemrich, the current Mayor of Fort Dodge. “He was a World War II veteran as well as a judge. He was an appellate court judge here in Iowa retired here in Fort Dodge, raised his family here.”
The ceremony was held at the base of the west end of the bridge at Bemrich electric, the business owned by Mayor Bemrich.
“A lot of people did not know it was called the Veterans Bridge, and that was just kind of a lack of any thing that would tell you that the bridge was the Veterans Bridge,” said Bemrich. “So a committee got together and decided to make some enhancements and really showcase the bridge.”
Huge signs will tell people now that it is the Albert Habhab Veterans Bridge. They have installed lighted military logos for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and also Space Force. The committee had to get permission from each of the military branches. The people at Space Force, a new branch of the military, said Fort Dodge was the first non-military request to use the Space Force logo, in the entire country.
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