Mural
I ventured out to Fitchburg this morning. Fitchburg is a neighboring city to Leominster and both cities are at times referred to as the twin cities. Fitchburg is and old mill city utilizing the Nashua River that flows through the center. Most if not all the mills are closed now leaving behind many old brick buildings.
This summer coming up will be the 50th Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, a bicycle race that is held in Fitchburg every year. The race is named after Fitchburg native Art Longsjo, who competed in the Olympics as both a speed skater as well as a cyclist.
Leominster and Fitchburg are rivals in many sports but none bigger than football. Each Thanksgiving day the Leominster Blue Devils football team faces the Fitchburg Red Raiders football team. This rivalry dates back to 1893 which is the longest running rivalry in the state. Only 2 years have these teams not played during this span. Each year the location of the game changes. When Leominster is the home team they play at Doyle Field, and Crocker Field is used for Fitchburg home games. Results after all these years? Fitchburg leads Leominster with a record of 59-57-9.
I saw this mural on the side of a parking garage a few weeks ago. I decided to head downtown again to take this photo.
Arthur J. DiTommaso Memorial Bridge
Back in 1995 the original fifth street bridge in Fitchburg was closed. A state inspection of the bridge found it to be unsafe. After a lengthy study it was decided two years later in 1997 to replace the bridge rather than fix the old one. Bidding was started to determine who will be demolishing the bridge and building the new one. The bridge was finally demolished in 1997.
Construction of the new bridge did not start until the year 2000. It was decided that a twin-tower cable stayed bridge consisting of 52 cables would be built. I vaguely remember the project being stalled for multiple reasons, but do not remember the exact reasons. Finally in September of 2003 the bridge opened. It was named the Arthur J. DiTommaso Memorial Bridge, in honor of Arthur J. DiTommaso who served the city of Fitchburg as a police officer for many years.
Here is a photo of the bridge taken last night. As I pulled up to the spot I've been scouting for some time a train happen to be approaching. I did not have time to set up my tripod, but was able to capture this image as the train was going by.
