Newsday from New York, New York • 9

Celebrating Bridges 75th Year By Paul D. Colford George Steimnayer vu a Queens farm boy when he asked his grandfather about the massive hulk of steel and stone standing in the East Biver. "It's going to be a bridge, his grandfather told him, "and its going to cross tire river. It was the Queensboro Bridge, which opened 75 years ago this month. In linking sleepy Queens to bustling Manhattan, the span transformed a semirural outback into a populous, industrialized part of the metropolis.

The horse carts, trolleys, trains and cars that traversed the bridge made Queens much more accessible than it had been by feny alone. Steimnayer, now 87, shared his memories yesterday at the unveiling of an anniversary bridge exhibit that drew about 200 invited guests and onlookers to Queens Borough Hall, in the Kew Gardens section. "We lived about two blocks from the river, he said. "We were farm people, but my father and my uncles found work clearing houses to malm way for Bridge Plaza. I worked, too.

I would use soap on the wood beams so it would be easier to pull the houses apart. Hie added: "We were glad to see the bridge open up, but it was tough for some. Taxes went up, and some lost their farms because they couldn't pay. Steinmayers story is among four family histories illustrated in the exhibit, which consists of old photographs, maps and documents on the building of the bridge, its role in the development of Queens, and its impact on people. "Tm 89 years old, Dora Geipel said proudly.

"I sang with a choir on the opening day. Geipel helped Borough President Donald R. Manes cut a sheet cake that was spanned by a Queensboro Bridge of chocolate icing. Although it was a one-day celebration, Manes said that Queens would outdo the Brooklyn Bridge centennial when the Queensboro becomes 100 years old. Alluding to the bridges reconstruction.

Manes also told the group that he has asked the Transportation Department to study the feasibility of a shuttle-bus route between Second Avenue in Manhattan and Queens Plaza, which would serve bicyclists and pedestrians forced off the bridge by construction until the improvements are completed. The exhibit was organized by Richard K. Lieber-man, a 38-year-old professor of history and the director of the LaGuardia Archives at LaGuardia Community College. It will remain at Borough Hall through April, and then travel to schools and community centers. The Queensboro, designed by Henry Hombostal, took nine years to build, at a cost of $18 million.

Fifty workers died during the construction. "It took Queens from the 19th to the 20th Century, Lieberman said. Besides its role in New Yorks growth, the structure, of cantilever design, has figured as a thing of beauty. The bridge was a backdrop to romance in Woody Allens movie "Manhattan, and Simon and Garfimkel found it a reason for "feeling groovy in their "59th Street Bridge Song. That name is a sore point, however.

Manes and others were emphatic in noting that the Queensboro was never named the 59th Street Bridge. "Its not fair when those traffic people on the radio call it the 59th Street Bridge, said Alice Havlena, whose father walked his family over the bridge from Manhattan to settle in Long Island City. "There should be a drive against it. On opening day, March 30, 1909, New York Mayor George McClellan rode In the first car to stop at the toll booth on the Manhattan side of the Queensboro Bridge. At right, the Queens side of the bridge is shown during early construction.

Below, George Steinmayer, 87, shows Dora Geipel, 89, part of the display at an anniversary exhibit for the bridge at Queens Borough Hall. Their families' stories are two of the four on display at the hall through April. New may Karen Wile diffty irmrana Esnard Sworn In As Deputy Mayor Job Offer From DA For Andrew Cuomo? Gov. Marin Cuomos son, Andrew, has been offered a position in the Manhattan district attorneys office, according to informed sources. The younger Cuomo, who had said two months ago that he was planning to leave his father's administration, has not yet replied to the offer, the sources said.

Neither young Cuomo nor District Attorney Robert M. Margenthau would confirm or deny the offer yesterday, but sources familiar with the offer said that the position was in the prosecutors appeals bureau. "I have had conversations with several people both in the public and private sector, Cuomo waul. "Those conversations were confidential, and I plan to keep them confidential. Morgenthau said, "Any discussion of his plans will have to come from him.

The offer was made a few weeks ago, the sources said. Cuomo, who is a top coordinator of Walter Mondales campaign for delegates in New Yorks presidential primary April 3, has not yet replied to the offer, the sources added. Cuomo said in late January that he planned to leave his fathers staff he is a $l-a-year special assistant and join a private law firm. Cuomo would be precluded from any political activity if he joined the prosecutor's office. He was extremely active in the governor's campaign for office in 1982 and stayed on to become a key member of his fathers administration.

A graduate of Albany Law School, Cuomo, 26, has never practiced law. Gerald McKelvey Former Buildings Commissioner Robert Esnard was sworn in yesterday as Deputy Mayor for Policy and Physical Development. Working with Mayor Edward Koch and Deputy Mayors Kenneth Upper and Stanley Brexenoff, Esnard, an architect and urban planner, will oversee nearly $2 billion of construction planned by the city as well as all the citys physical improvements and expansions. Caryn Ee Wiener More City News Begins on Page 18 V..