The internet in 2016 seemed like a simpler place. Attentions were far less stratified than they are today, and there were more world-spanning events that seemed to enter the zeitgeist beyond the terminally online. One of those events was the tragic death of Harambe the western lowland gorilla. The internet took the gorilla’s shooting (after a three-year-old boy fell into the gorilla enclosure) and ran with it, posting countless memes and tributes. To this day, people are still proverbially pouring one out for the downed homie.
After the city of Mauldin, South Carolina announced a vote to name its newest interstate pedestrian bridge crossing I-385, predictably with the most milquetoast name choices possible, one terminally online person took it upon themselves to name the bridge themselves, according to Fox Carolina. Using Google Maps, the anonymous actor gave the bridge its temporary name, The Harambe Memorial Bridge. As part of the performance art piece, a small memorial was set up on the bridge, featuring a small stuffed gorilla, a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and a cigarette.
The city was considering such names as Mauldin SkyWay, Mauldin Archway, Mauldin Highway Overpass, Mauldin Gateway Bridge, and Mauldin’s Palmetto Pathway. I’d never heard of Mauldin before the Harambe Memorial Bridge, and because the city wants to be boring, it wants to wipe the name from the bridge to replace it with its own name. This is the problem with local government, it’s never leaning in to doing anything fun. I’m sure just for the joke of it, the city Chamber of Commerce could have gotten some tourism out of this bridge.
You can see the bridge right here on Google Maps. After the buzz around the meme-orial this weekend, the city petitioned Google Maps to remove the name, and has made the bridge impossible to search. It still shows up in Mauldin, South Carolina, but will not allow directions to the landmark any longer. The bridge is nearly officially complete, and an edit request will go to Google after the official name for the bridge is decided upon today.
