Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania Highways

Sewickley Bridge

He saved it!
By Betty G. Y. Shields

Not everyone is fortunate enough to own an original print, especially one of a kind. Luther Lacher, a resident of Sewickley, does.

During the original Sewickley-Coraopolis Bridge celebration, in 1911, local merchants advertised the opening of the new link over the Ohio River by placing posters in their shops.

Records show that 1,000 of these posters, prints of the original oil on canvas by Sewickley artist Audley Nicols, were distributed.

Luther Lacher came into possession of his through his father John M. Lacher who operated Lacher's Meat Market on Beaver Road, Leetsdale.

The Lacher's were excited, as was the whole valley, about the new bridge and the week of celebration planned for the event. Luther remembers driving over to Coraopolis and back in a 1910-model Buick with his mother and father.

After the big event, the poster hung in the Lacher's store for about two months, then was carefully rolled up and kept as a souvenir.

To date, no other person has come forward with another print. Nor does anybody know where the original painting is.

Needless to say, the poster is a prized possession of Luther Lacher who has only one regret when he thinks of the first bridge opening.

He wishes he had kept that 1910 Buick he drove over to Cory and back.

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Sewickley-Coraopolis Bridge 1911-1981
Supplement to the Coraopolis Record and the Sewickley Herald
Wednesday, October 21, 1981, Page

Created on ... December 05, 2000