November 7, 1940: The Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses. Opening just 4 months earlier, on July 1, 1940, outside Tacoma, Washington, it was then the 3rd-longest suspension bridge in the world, behind only the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the George Washington Bridge in New York.
The wind gusts that came through the Narrows made the road wobble in midair, giving it the nickname "Galloping Gertie." On November 7, someone heard that it was particularly wobbly, and got a home movie camera, and took spectacular color footage of the event, as 40-mile-per-hour winds eventually caused the roadway to fall apart.
The remnants of the bridge were given to the federal government as scrap metal for the war effort. Due to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, new bridges on or near the Pacific Coast were put on hold for the duration. For that reason, and due to insurance difficulties, construction on the replacement bridge didn't begin until 1948.
A new Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened on October 14, 1950, and became the new model for suspension bridges standing up to high winds. It was nicknamed "Sturdy Gertie," and is still in use. Due to increasing traffic as the Seattle-Tacoma area has developed, a parallel span was added in 2007. As far as I know, this one has no nickname. It carries eastbound traffic, while the 1950 span carries westbound traffic, via Washington State Route 16.
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November 7, 1940 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Only 1 game was played in the NHL: The New York Americans beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 1-0 at the Chicago Stadium. John Sorrell scored the only goal, for the Amerks at 6:01 of the 3rd period (meaning 13:59 left to play in regulation.)
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