Market Street Bridge (Philadelphia)

Market Street Bridge
Market Street Bridge
	Market Street Bridge in Philadelphia, November 2017
Coordinates	39°57′16″N75°10′49″W / 39.95444°N 75.18028°W
Carries	PA 3 eastbound (Market Street)
Crosses	Schuylkill River
Locale	Philadelphia
Other name(s)	Permanent Bridge; High Street Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Covered Arch (1805)
Material	Wood (1805)
Total length	400 feet (120 m)
Piers in water	2 (1805); 1 (1932)
History
Designer	Timothy Palmer (1805)
Opened	1805
Location

Last updated February 09, 2024

The Market Street Bridge carries Market Street (Pennsylvania Route 3 eastbound), the primary east-west street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, across the Schuylkill River. The current bridge is the fifth permanent structure built at the site.

Middle Ferry

A ferry was established at or near this location by 1673.^[1] It came to be called the "Middle Ferry," because a ferry operated upstream (Upper Ferry) and another downstream (Lower Ferry).

Early in the Revolutionary War, American General Israel Putnam built a pontoon bridge at the Middle Ferry site, made of floating logs bound together by rope. This was intentionally destroyed to prevent its falling into the hands of the British. The British Army built its own pontoon bridge at the site during the 1777-78 Occupation of Philadelphia. It washed away in 1780. Its replacement washed away in 1784.^[2] That was succeeded by a plank-floor bridge also built on floating logs. Market Street was originally known as "High Street," and this floating bridge was the final link in the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike.

First bridge - Schuylkill Permanent Bridge

When the directors of the Schuylkill Permanent Bridge Company of Philadelphia elected in 1801 to build a wooden structure across the Schuylkill instead of the stone arch bridge originally planned, they called on Timothy Palmer to complete the job. Palmer (1751–1821) was the best-known wooden bridge builder in the country, and the resulting bridge became his best-known work. Palmer and his workmen completed the structure on two previously-built piers at a cost of US$300,000. Known then as "The Permanent Bridge," it had an overall length of 495 feet (151 m), with a center span of 195 feet (59 m) and a 12-foot (3.7 m) rise. The two side spans were 150 feet (46 m) each. Supposedly, this was the first permanent bridge over a major American river, as well as the world's first bridge with regular masonry piers in deep water.

The trusswork was sufficiently completed on January 1, 1805, to permit the bridge to be opened to traffic.^[3] But the president of the bridge company asked Palmer if the bridge wouldn't last longer if it was protected from the wind and rain by a weatherproof covering. Palmer said that the bridge's life span might be increased from ten-twelve years to thirty-forty years if a roof and sidewalls were added. Thus was created the first covered bridge in America.

About 1812, the bridge was adorned with wooden allegorical figures carved by sculptor William Rush. Commerce was installed over the west portal, and Agriculture over the east portal.

"High Street Bridge, before the bridge was covered." (1805) by William Birch.
High Street Bridge after it was covered, c1820
Schuylkill Permanent Bridge, (1801–1875). Plaque at center of current bridge.

Second bridge

As Palmer had predicted, the bridge stood with little attention until 1850, when a fire gutted it. It was rebuilt and widened for an additional railroad car track, as by then it was also used for railroad traffic. The second Market Street Bridge lasted until 1875, when it was completely destroyed by another fire.

Third bridge

The third bridge was a wooden structure and had the shortest tenure, lasting only 13 years, 1875-88.

Fourth bridge

The fourth bridge had three spans and a wrought-iron cantilever structure. Its piers were built on the foundations of the Schuylkill Permanent Bridge. Its width was 77 feet, its two side spans were each 98 feet, and its center span was 215 feet including a 76-foot suspended section.^[4]

Fifth (current) bridge

The current Market Street Bridge was erected in 1932, complete with balustrades and other decorative elements. The four eagle statues on the east and west approaches were salvaged from New York's Pennsylvania Station, donated to the City of Philadelphia by the Pennsylvania Railroad after Penn Station was demolished in 1963. The Market Street Bridge is across from Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, built and formerly owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Current bridge, with 30th Street Station and Cira Centre in the background.
Eagles salvaged from Pennsylvania Station, New York flank the bridge's approaches.

Related Research Articles

A pontoon bridge, also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry.

Transportation in Philadelphia involves the various modes of transport within the city and its required infrastructure. In addition to facilitating intracity travel, Philadelphia's transportation system connects Philadelphia to towns of its metropolitan area and surrounding areas within the Northeast megalopolis.

Broad Street Station at Broad & Market streets was the primary passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in Philadelphia from early December 1881 to the 1950s. Located directly west of Philadelphia City Hall, the site is now occupied by the northwest section of Dilworth Park and the office towers of Penn Center.

The Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge, officially the Veterans Memorial Bridge, spans the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, and carries Pennsylvania Route 462 and BicyclePA Route S. Built originally as the Lancaster-York Intercounty Bridge, construction began in 1929, and the bridge opened September 30, 1930. On November 11, 1980, it was officially dedicated as Veterans Memorial Bridge, though it is still referenced locally as the Columbia–Wrightsville Bridge.

The Harrisburg Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in Pennsylvania. The line is located in Philadelphia, and connects Greenwich Yard and the Philadelphia Subdivision with the Trenton Subdivision along a former Pennsylvania Railroad line. Much of the Harrisburg Subdivision is the High Line' or West Philadelphia Elevated along 31st Street over the 30th Street Station area.

The West Philadelphia Elevated, also known as the High Line or Philadelphia High Line, is a railroad viaduct in the western part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now part of the Harrisburg Subdivision of CSX Transportation, the viaduct was built in 1903 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to allow through freight trains to bypass rail yard, industrial sidings, and a passenger station.

52nd Street is a closed train station that was located at the intersection of North 52nd Street & Merion Avenue in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) at the junction of its Main Line and its Schuylkill Branch. Today, these lines are the SEPTA Regional Rail Paoli/Thorndale Line and Cynwyd Line, respectively.

The Pile–Pontoon Railroad Bridge was a floating bridge which crossed the Mississippi River in northern Iowa.

The Colossus Bridge – also known as Fairmount Bridge, Colossus of Fairmount or Upper Ferry Bridge – was a record-setting timber bridge across the Schuylkill River near Philadelphia. It was built in 1812 by Louis Wernwag, and was considered his finest bridge design. It had a clear span of 340 feet (103.6 m) and the longest single-span wooden truss to be erected in the United States as well as the first long span bridge to use iron rods.

The Falls Bridge is a steel Pratt truss bridge that spans the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It connects Kelly Drive at Calumet Street with Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive at Neill Drive. It replaced a wooden covered bridge at the same site.

Floats are airtight hollow structures, similar to pressure vessels, designed to provide buoyancy in water. Their principal applications are in watercraft hulls, aircraft floats, floating piers, pontoon rhinos, pontoon causeways, and marine engineering applications such as salvage.

Gray's Ferry Bridge has been the formal or informal name of several floating bridges and four permanent ones that have carried highway and rail traffic over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. The bridge today is a four-lane divided highway bridge, built in 1976, that carries Grays Ferry Avenue from the Grays Ferry neighborhood on the east bank, over the river and the Northeast Corridor railroad tracks, to the Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood of Kingsessing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Garden Street Bridge</span> Bridge in Pennsylvania, United States

Spring Garden Street Bridge is a highway bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It crosses the Schuylkill River below Fairmount Dam and connects West Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It is the fourth bridge at this location.

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 bridge in the world.

Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill was an 1808 iron-chain suspension bridge built across the Schuylkill River, north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Designed by inventor James Finley, it became the model for his later chain suspension bridges. It collapsed in 1816 under a heavy load of snow.

Schuylkill Arsenal Railroad Bridge is a wrought iron, two-track, deck truss swing bridge across the Schuylkill River between the University City and Grays Ferry neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1885–86 by the Pennsylvania Railroad. Today, its swing span has been fixed shut, and the electrical catenary de-energized.

Jacob's Creek Bridge was the first iron-chain suspension bridge built in the United States. Designed by James Finley, a local judge and inventor, it spanned Jacob's Creek, just south of Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Nothing of the bridge is thought to remain, but an area on the north side of Jacob's Creek – where Route 819 crosses – is still called "Iron Bridge."

Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Bridge No. 1 was a swing steel through truss that spanned the Schuylkill River between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Kingsessing and Grays Ferry neighborhoods.

The Penn Street Bridge, also known as the Penn Street Viaduct, is a historic bridge crossing the Schuylkill River into Reading, Pennsylvania, the largest city in Berks County and fourth-largest city in the state. The bridge is considered to be the primary gateway to downtown Reading, leading directly onto Penn Street, the main thoroughfare of the city. The opposite end of the bridge leads into the borough of West Reading and connects with an interchange onto the West Shore Bypass section of U.S. Route 422. As a result of the bridge's prominent location, it has an average daily traffic volume of nearly 34,000. Constructed in 1913, the bridge is one of the oldest examples in the region of an open-spandrel concrete arch bridge, and it retains good historic integrity including original ornate concrete railings; it was determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and reevaluated in 2019.

References

↑ Scharf, John Thomas (1884). History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Volume 3. L. H. Everts & Company.
↑ Klein, p. 354.
↑ A Statistical account of the Schuylkill permanent bridge, commenced September 5th 1801, opened January 1st, 1805, communicated to the Philadelphia Society of Agriculture, 1806
↑ Klein, p. 355.

Market Street Bridge (Philadelphia)

Contents