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This Day in Pop Culture

This Day in Pop Culture for September 2

Today’s pop culture trivia: The world’s widest bridge and the First ATM in America.

September 2, 2020

1–2 minutes

2013: The World’s Widest Bridge

The original San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened on November 12, 1936 – six months before the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge features two sections: the Western section, a double suspension bridge which connects Yerba Buena Island and the newer eastern section which connects the island to Oakland.

In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake caused a section of the Eastern section’s upper deck to collapse onto the lower one and was closed for a month. Reconstruction of that section of the bridge began in 2002 and it was reopened on this day in 2013.

The cost for this project ran about $6.5 billion and was given the title of the “world’s widest bridge” according to Guinness World Records. (Image: Wikimedia)

1969: USA’s First ATM’s

“On September 2, our bank will open at 9:00 and never close” read an ad for the Rockville Centre Chemical Bank in 1969. The bank had the distinction of becoming the very first institution in the U.S. to install a “Docuteller” better known as an Automatic Teller Machine or ATM. It was created by Donald Wetzel’s company, Docutel.

While executives were unsure if customers would feel comfortable using such a device, in a vote of confidence, the bank installed three more machines at three other branches. Today, you would be hard-pressed to find a bank without one. Not only were customers willing to use them, but they also happily paid a fee for the honor of the privilege.