Spring Garden Street Bridge is a highway bridge in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It crosses the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

below Fairmount Dam and connects

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and

Benjamin Franklin Parkway Benjamin Franklin Parkway, commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Named for founding father Benjamin Franklin, the mile-long Parkway c ...

. It is the fourth bridge at this location. The bridge is located at .

1st bridge: The Colossus

As early as 1693, a ferry operated, crossing the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, the hill on which the Philadelphia Museum of Art now stands. Being upstream of the others, this was called the Upper Ferry. For the Upper Ferry site, bridgebuilder Louis Wernwag designed "The Colossus", the longest single-span wooden bridge in the United States. Construction began in April 1812, and it opened on January 7, 1813. A double-arched-truss with a clear span of , it was a marvel of engineering for its time. Also called the "Colossus of Fairmount," the "Upper Ferry Bridge," and the "Lancaster Schuylkill Bridge," the toll bridge was part of the

Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, first used in 1795, is the first long-distance paved road built in the United States, according to engineered plans and specifications. It links Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia at 34th Street, st ...

. It was destroyed by fire on September 1, 1838.

Thomas Birch Thomas Birch (23 November 17059 January 1766) was an English historian. Life He was the son of Joseph Birch, a coffee-mill maker, and was born at Clerkenwell. He preferred study to business but, as his parents were Quakers, he did not go to t ...

painted at least two views of the bridge, and one of them was made into an 1813 engraving by Jacob J. Plocher. This "Upper Ferry Bridge" engraving was copied frequently on Staffordshire china. File:Fairmount Waterworks 1835 (cropped).jpg, "Schuylkill Waterworks" (1835), with "The Colossus" in the background. File:A View of Fairmount and the Waterworks by John Rubens Smith 1835.jpg, "A View of Fairmount and the Waterworks" (1835) by John Rubens Smith.

2nd bridge: Wire Bridge at Fairmount

Five miles upstream from Fairmount, iron manufacturers Josiah White and Erksine Hazard built a wire-cable footbridge in 1816. Though a modest structure – in length with a suspended walkway wide – and a temporary one – it stood for less than a year – the

Spider Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill Spider Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill was an iron-wire footbridge erected in 1816 over the Schuylkill River, north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Though a modest and temporary structure, it is thought to have been the first wire-cable suspension br ...

is thought to have been the first wire-cable suspension bridge in history. Twenty-five years later, permanent wire-cable suspension bridges had been built in France and Switzerland. To replace "The Colossus,"

Charles Ellet, Jr. Charles Ellet Jr. (1 January 1810 – 21 June 1862) was an American civil engineer from Pennsylvania who designed and constructed major canals, suspension bridges and railroads. He built the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the longest suspension ...

designed the first major wire-cable suspension bridge in the United States. The "Wire Bridge at Fairmount" was commissioned by the City of Philadelphia, and opened to traffic on January 2, 1842. It had no toll, and stood for over thirty years. Ellet would go on to design the

Wheeling Suspension Bridge The Wheeling Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the main channel of the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia. It was the largest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 until 1851. Charles Ellet Jr. (who also worked on the Nia ...

(1847–49); and the first

Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge stood from 1855 to 1897 across the Niagara River and was the world's first working railway suspension bridge. It spanned and stood downstream of Niagara Falls, where it connected Niagara Falls, Ontario to ...

(1847–48), which was abandoned before completion. File:Suspension bridge, Philadelphia, by Kilburn Brothers 2.jpg, Wire Bridge at Fairmount. File:On the Schuylkil (Schuylkill), Pennsylvania, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, Wire Bridge from mouth of Schuylkill Canal. File:Wire bridge, Fairmount, by Newell, R., d. 1897.jpg, Wire Bridge from mouth of Schuylkill Canal. File:Wire bridge at Fairmount (Instantenous), from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, Wire Bridge from Schuylkill River. File:South from River Drive, by Cremer, James, 1821-1893.jpg, Wire Bridge from

Boathouse Row Boathouse Row is a historic site located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of 15 boathouses housing social and ro ...

. File:Wire bridge on the Schuylkill River, from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views.jpg, Wire Bridge from

3rd bridge: Callowhill Street Bridge

The Callowhill Street Bridge was designed by Jacob H. Linville, engineer, and built by the Keystone Bridge Company, 1874–75. A double-decker bridge that carried passengers, vehicles and streetcars on its upper deck and trains (later removed) on its lower, it was a Whipple truss of cast and wrought iron, long and wide. The arches between the decks were decorative and removed circa 1900; the ornate railings were removed by 1910. It was demolished in 1964. File:1875 Keystone Bridge Company Ad (cropped).jpg, Callowhill Street Bridge in an 1875 advertisement. File:View in Fairmount Park. Lower deck, Callowhill St. bridge, by Hemple, A. H. (Alfred H.).jpg, Callowhill Street Bridge, lower deck. File:Callowhill Street Bridge 1910 (cropped).jpg, Callowhill Street Bridge in 1910.

4th bridge: Spring Garden Street Bridge

HAER PA,51-PHILA,694-18--West Philadelphia Elevated--north

The current bridge was designed by Richard Wisniewski of Philadelphia, and completed in 1965. It carries West Spring Garden Street over the Pennsylvania Railroad lines, the

Schuylkill Expressway The Schuylkill Expressway , locally known as "the Schuylkill", is a freeway through southern Montgomery County and the city of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, and the easternmost segment of Interstate 76 (I-76) in the U.S. state of Pennsyl ...

, the

, and the

Schuylkill River Trail The Schuylkill River Trail ( , ) is a multi-use trail along the banks of the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania. Partially complete as of 2018, the trail is ultimately planned to run about from the river's headwaters in Schuylkill Co ...

. The West River Drive Bridge crosses diagonally beneath it, carrying the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive over the Schuylkill River. File:Philadelphia skyline August 2007.jpg, Looking southeast from the Spring Garden Street Bridge. File:Spring Garden and West River Bridges.jpg, As seen from a kayak on the Schuylkill River. The Spring Garden Street Bridge is the upper of the two.

Notes

References

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External links

* {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Spring Garden Street Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = West River Drive Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Vine Street Expressway Bridge , downstream signs = I-676

Bridges in Philadelphia Bridges over the Schuylkill River Bridges completed in 1813 Bridges completed in 1842 Bridges completed in 1875 Bridges completed in 1965 Historic American Engineering Record in Philadelphia Road bridges in Pennsylvania Former toll bridges in Pennsylvania 1842 establishments in Pennsylvania