HISTORY TURNED ART: What's next for the Jackson's Mechanic Street bridge

• Video shows groundbreaking for the Mechanic Street Bridge graffiti art project.
• The original bridge was built in 1901 and was once mysteriously tagged with an Alexander the Great quote.
• Ted Christoff and Georgia Fojtasek wanted to see the bridge preserved after construction began in August of 2023.

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)

Driving down Mechanic Street, into downtown Jackson, you may have noticed this quote by Alexander the Great hanging above you.

An army of sheep led by lions will always defeat an army of lions led by sheep.

Community activist, Georgia Fojtasek, shares, "As I drove back and forth between places and the hospital for many, many years, I would that at that stop light and wonder, 'What does this Alexander the Great quote mean?'"

It's something that's stuck with Jackson's neighbors. "It's really a profound statement when you think about it," says owner of Christoff & Sons, Ted Christoff.

When Ted Christoff and Georgia Fojtasek found out this historic, 1901 bridge was being replaced... "We just serendipitously said, 'What if we could save it?'" says Fojtasek.

Ted and Georgia looked to the community to see if the plan was worth it. Christoff explains, "We asked, 'Would it be important for you to have this?' and the overwhelming consensus was 'Yes.'" Now, after working with MDOT, and $52,000 raised later, this beam is being reconstructed into a piece of art, into what Ted is calling the North Edge Art and Enterprise District. "It should be a wonderful place to bring what was an industrialized area into an urban and downtown area," he says.

A place where neighbors can continue to read the quote, which will stand at its original height, at 10 feet tall. Fojtasek adds, "Also, to ponder the art, and what does it mean to them, because it means different things to different people." Something Ted and Georgia only saw as a dream, until now.

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