Hunter Street Bridge Documentary Set to Premiere For Peterborough
/As the Hunter Street bridge celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, a documentary marking the milestone called “Building the Ashburnham Bridge” will air on YourTV on Aug. 2.
Steve Russell, project manager of the documentary was the eldest of four children in his family. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The documentary was created by archivist Elwood Jones and former engineer Steve Russell. It tells the story of the planning and construction of the bridge — also known as the Ashburnham Bridge — between 1919 and 1921.
The project began in 2019 after a grant was given to the Trent Severn Waterway from the Trillium Foundation to take all the old pictures of Quaker Oats and the bridge construction according to Russell.
Russell’s grandfather, John E. Russell from the Russell-Townsend Company built the bridge during interesting economic and political times of Peterborough’s history.
That inspired Steve to do the documentary after learning that fact and discovered his grandfather in archived photos.
“Once I identified him (grandfather), that really accelerated my interest for the documentary,” said Steve.
