U.S.-Canada Peace Bridge
A commemorative postage stamp on the 50th anniversary of the Peace Bridge, connecting New York with Fort Erie, Ontario :
Issued by United States of America
Issued on Aug 4, 1977
Design : This U.S. 13¢ stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Peace Bridge was designed by Bernard Brussel–Smith of Bedford Hills, New York.
A U.S. 3¢ stamp depicting an old U.S.-Canada Bridge known as the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge was issued in 1948 to commemorate friendship between the two great nations. A 5₡ stamp depicting a bridge at Niagara Falls was issued in conjunction with the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901. Thus, three stamps featuring bridges over the Niagara commemorate ties between Americans and their friends to the north.
Type : Stamp, Postal Used
Denomination : 13 cents
About :
- Canada and the United States began their relationship as deadly enemies. During the American Revolution, Britain’s General Burgoyne swept down from Quebec with an army intent upon splitting the 13 original colonies in two.
- The War of 1812 brought much fighting along the Niagara River, which separates parts of Ontario and New York State. The Americans captured Fort Erie on the Canadian side, and the Canadians burned Buffalo on the American side. Peace returned to the Niagara with the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 and has remained unbroken except for a few relatively minor 19th century incidents.
- On June 27, 1927, a steel bridge stretching 4,400 feet from Canada’s Fort Erie to Buffalo’s Fort Potter was opened for vehicular traffic. In August of that year, the international bridge was officially dedicated and named the Peace Bridge as a memorial to more than a century of U.S.-Canadian peace.
- By 1950 the Peace Bridge had become the most important artery between the United States and Canada, in both volume of traffic and value of goods transported across the border. It is a vital link between two of the world’s largest countries (Canada 3,851,809 square miles; United States 3,615,122 square miles). Vast numbers of the 214.5 million Americans and the 23 million Canadians cross the border to visit each other. A more basic tie than tourism is $40 billion per year of U.S.-Canada trade, with the United States buying 35% of Canada’s products and Canada buying 2% of U.S. goods. Huge investments in corporations across the border comprise another strong U.S.-Canada tie.
