Robert Hadlow and Hannah Mellor had a personal and professional interest in the new Oregon Historical Society exhibit that tells the story of U.S. 101.
The two Oregon Department of Transportation historians took their time Saturday absorbing the showcase, which commemorates the federal highway’s centennial anniversary this year.
They peered into glass display cases that showed tourist knickknacks and signage, including for the Prehistoric Gardens, which opened in 1955 near Port Orford. They admired a scaled-down arch bridge that accompanied the story of Conde McCollough, a civil engineer who designed such iconic spans as the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport and the mile-long Conde B. McCullough Memorial Bridge in Coos Bay, which Hadlow himself lauded in the Oregon Encyclopedia as “a graceful concrete and steel structure of rhythmic beauty.”…