NEW HOPE — While the New Hope-Lambertville crossing’s 200th anniversary date won’t occur until September 2014, a committee of New Hope and Lambertville history buffs already has been formed to plan for the occasion by compiling educational information and a video.
And, here’s the story:
The year is 1812. The United States is at war with Great Britain. Napoleon’s army is retreating in Russia. And the waltz is gaining popularity in English ballrooms, despite alarmists who declare the dance form to be disgusting and immoral.
According to a Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission official, “It was upon this backdrop 200 years ago on Dec. 12 that the Pennsylvania Legislature gave final approval to a special act authorizing the creation of a private company that would later go on to build a shareholder-owned toll bridge between the Delaware River communities of New Hope and Lambertville.
”It took another 21 months to construct the bridge before it opened for use on Sept. 13, 1814. But when it opened, it immediately became a more convenient and reliable travel alternative to the ferries that previously operated between the two communities. It was the fourth bridge to carry people, horses, and livestock between the two states, opening only a few months after the Centre Bridge-Stockton crossing initiated service slightly more than 3 miles upstream. Both bridges soon competed for travelers and commerce using the York Road linking Philadelphia and New York, according to the commission.”
Agitation to construct a bridge between New Hope and Lambertville already had been under way for several years when legislative approval was granted in 1812. The New Jersey Legislature went first by approving the special legislative act on Jan. 20, 1812. The concurring act on the part of the Pennsylvania Legislature was approved Dec. 12, 1812.
This act authorized the bridge company to operate under the title of “The President and Managers of the New Hope Delaware Bridge Company,” and at the same time permitted the company to engage in banking operations.
In February 1813, the fledgling bridge company entered into a $50,000 contract with Lewis Wernwag, Joseph Johnson and Samuel Stackers to construct the bridge as designed by chief engineer Wernwag, a pioneering American bridge designer of that era. His design originally called for an uncovered wooden structure, but it was later outfitted with a roof and wooden sides.
In building the structure, Mr. Wernwag required all timbers to be sawed through the heart to “detect unsound wood, and to reduce the greatest width of a stick to 6 inches.” According to the book, “ Bridges over the Delaware River,” by Frank T. Dale, Mr. Wernwag used iron bracings extensively in the structure, “a practice that was 75 years ahead of its time…”
Construction was completed Sept. 12, 1814. The cost of building the original bridge was $67,936.37. It remained in service until the flood of Jan. 8, 1841, when a large portion of it was carried away and damaged to the extent of $40,000. The reconstructed bridge consisting of new wooden-covered sections remained in service until Oct. 10, 1903, when it was destroyed by the infamous “Pumpkin Flood.”
Today’s steel Pratt truss bridge at the site also was constructed by private investors. It opened to traffic in 1904. The bridge continues in service to this day, operating on many of the original masonry piers that were constructed nearly 200 years ago.
The New Hope-Lambertville crossing operated longer as a toll bridge than it has as a non-toll bridge. Tolls were charged by private shareholders from Sept. 13, 1814 to Dec. 30, 1919 — a span of 105 years. The crossing was purchased by the two states on Dec. 31, 1919 and was immediately freed of tolls. It has operated as a non-toll bridge for 93 years.
Under public ownership, the bridge initially was maintained and operated by a predecessor agency to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. Upon the commission’s formal creation in December 1934, it assumed the bridge’s management and operation responsibilities.
The bridge was operated with tax revenues from the two states from Dec. 31, 1919 to July 1, 1987, when the two states transferred ownership outright to the commission and directed the agency to operate and maintain the bridge without tax subsidies, using a portion of the proceeds from the agency’s seven toll bridges instead. This is the reason the bridge’s official name is now the New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge.
For more information about the commission, see: www.drjtbc.org.
— Ruth Luse

