Trenton City/Calhoun Street Bridge - Morrisville, Pennsylvania
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 40° 13.114 W 074° 46.778
18T E 518750 N 4452039
Historic bridge across the Delaware River between Trenton, New Jersey and Morrisville, Pennsylvania.
Waymark Code: WM490B
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 07/23/2008
Views: 24
"The Calhoun Street Toll Supported Bridge is one of three bridges connecting
Trenton, New Jersey with Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Construction of the original
bridge, known as the "City Bridge", began in 1859. It opened to traffic on July
1, 1861. The wooden bridge continued in service for 23 years until the evening
of June 25, 1884, when disaster struck. The bridge was completely destroyed in
one of the most spectacular fires ever witnessed in the area.
The "City
Bridge" was replaced with an iron truss structure using the original stone
masonry piers and abutments, undamaged by the fire. Built by the Phoenix Bridge
Company of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania and opened to traffic on October 20, 1884,
the bridge is the same structure standing on the site today. A local newspaper
of the day reported that 16 two-horse vehicles, 7 one-horse vehicles and 175
pedestrians crossed over the bridge on the first day. A trolley line was
operated on the bridge for several years in the early part of the twentieth
century. The Bridge is a Phoenix Pratt truss with a total length of 1,274 feet.
A timber plank pedestrian sidewalk is supported by the upriver truss on steel
cantilever brackets.
The bridge is currently posted for a three-ton weight limit, an 8-foot
vertical clearance and a fifteen-mile per hour speed limit." -
Delaware
River Joint Toll Bridge Commission website
The bridge was on the Lincoln Highway until 1920 when the route was moved to
a free bridge across the Delaware River.