The Curran Suspension Bridge in Littleton is the third bridge at this site, linking the industrial area north of the Ammonoosuc with the residential area to the south. Before any bridge was built in the late 1800's, workers crossed the river by rope-drawn skiff to reach the Saranac Glove Factory, founded in 1866. After the factory changed to steam power in the late 1800's and the river breached the dam that had supplied dam power, skiff passage became impractical and the first wooden bridge was built. A suspension bridge with a 244-foot span was erected here in 1902, using technology that allowed a much longer main span than other bridge types. That bridge was destroyed in the Great New England Hurricane of 1938, which caused heavy damage across New Hampshire and brought 163 mph winds to nearby Mt. Washington. The town then turned to Littleton native Kenneth Elwin Curran, recently home from Northwestern University with an engineering degree, to replace it. Awarded the contract for $3,250, Curran replaced the wooden towers with steel and, after inspecting the underground cable anchors and finding the steel cables preserved by lanolin-rich deer hides, left them undisturbed. He completed the bridge for $3,049 and did not bill the town for the remainder. That blend of thrift, discipline, fairness, and respect for taxpayers became a hallmark of his career as his firm grew into a major regional employer building airfields, dams, utilities, schools, and bridges across New England. Curran, devoted to Littleton and its wildlife, arranged an endowment so that this first public works contract would stand in perpetuity, and the town named the bridge for him.