He once stated during a radio interview that he came up with the idea for the Mackinac Bridge after an unusually bitter winter one day disrupted his commute to work by ferry and forced him to cross the strait on the brittle icy lake surface. Brown died in St. Ignace at the age of 84 and is interred there at Lakeside Cemetery. Two of Brown's children were also active in Democratic party politics. Prentiss M. Brown, Jr., ran unsuccessfully for Congress several times, in 1952, 1956, 1958, and 1960, and was the city attorney for St. Ignace for 50 years. Paul Walker Brown was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan from 1971 until 1994, and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1974. Honors He has been called the "father of the Mackinac Bridge." His import was so great that his visage was placed on a special memorial bridge token created by the Mackinac Bridge Authority. In 2004, Albion College renamed its Honors Institute the Prentiss M. Brown Honors Institute in memory of the 1911 alumnus. Between 1976 and 2001, the stretch of Interstate 75 between the Mackinac Bridge and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, was known as the Prentiss M. Brown Memorial Highway. Since 2001, the Prentiss M. Brown Memorial Highway is designated as the name of I-75 in Mackinac County on the north side of the Mackinac Bridge. His accomplishments are commemorated as a "Michigan Legal Milestone" erected by the State Bar of Michigan. He is prominently featured in the PBS documentary "Building the Mighty Mac" by LA filmmaker Mark Howell. References External links Albion College press announcement 1889 births 1973 deaths People from St. Ignace, Michigan Democratic Party United States senators from Michigan Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Albion College alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni 20th-century American politicians