Lansing — Fifty years have passed since Richard "Dick" DeMara was a black-haired iron worker.

He was paid $3.50 an hour and "a nickel for fringe benefits" in 1957 as a cable inspector during the construction of the Mackinac Bridge.

DeMara, who now has gray hair, shared photos and jocular stories of his experience Saturday at the Michigan Historical Museum, 702 W. Kalamazoo St. in Lansing, as visitors celebrated the Mackinac Bridge's 50th anniversary.

Museum visitors listened to the live rock quartet Frog and the Beeftones as the band played hits from 1957. "Roll Over Beethoven" echoed throughout the museum, and former workers told stories to much younger patrons.

DeMara showed photos of his bridge-building days to a crowd of about 75 people. He was a member of the Ironworkers Local 25 union that did the construction.

Using an old-style slide projector, the National Guard retiree documented his experience. In one photo, DeMara's 1955 Plymouth lined the foreground, as the Mighty Mac was being built behind it. He performed inspections to the bridge's main cables.

Today, the bridge has elevators to transport workers to the highest point at its 552-foot-tall main towers. During construction, however, the towers held a "basket" that raised workers to the top.

"That got pretty hairy when the wind was blowing," DeMara said.

Basic tasks such as eating or using the bathroom proved to be difficult for bridge workers. The crew brought hot plates to heat their coffee, but when multiple hot plates were used at the same time, the cable system, which ran electricity up the bridge, didn't work.

Outhouse-like structures were built at the top of the bridge. The waste, as DeMara described, would sometimes hit ferry-boat passengers as they waved at the bridge builders.

"They thought what they were feeling was rain drops," DeMara said with a laugh.

The workers also would drop a rope and bucket into the Straits of Mackinac for drinking water.

"If it was foggy, it would go banging into one of those freighter windows," DeMara said. "They didn't like that much."

DeMara also talked about the gambling atmosphere of his craps-loving crew members.

"The guys would take their wives down to the big city of St. Ignace," DeMara said. "But sometimes, they had gambled all their money away. The wife didn't like that."

DeMara added that state police put a ban on gambling at the bridge. Signs were posted at the site that told workers not to gamble.

"As soon as they left, we took down the signs and made card tables out of them," DeMara said.

The bridge took 40 months to build prior to its grand opening on Nov. 1, 1957.

"By today's building standards, that's a short period of time," said Todd Mayer, who paints the monstrous bridge its signature green and off-white color each summer.

At the bridge's creation, it was the world's largest suspension bridge. Today, it's the third longest.

While many might fear the skyscraping heights of the bridge, Mayer embraces them.

"I have a deep respect for heights," he said.

Louise Fitches brought her daughter and grandson to the event. Fitches was visiting from Colorado and recalled visiting the museum with her daughter before she moved.

"I remember coming with my daughter," she said. "Now my grandson loves seeing the things here."