Falls Bridge

Built in 1894-1895, Falls Bridge connects East Falls and West Fairmount Park across the Schuylkill River, where six earlier bridges had failed. A chain suspension bridge built in 1808 was destroyed by heavy snowfall in 1816, and the nation's first wire suspension bridge, called the spider bridge, lasted only six months before a snow and ice storm wrecked it. Four succeeding timber bridges were carried away by winter storms and high winds in 1822, 1850, 1878, and 1893. George S. Webster, the City's Chief Engineer and Surveyor from 1893 to 1913, designed the replacement as a metal truss bridge able to resist the wind and water that had destroyed the earlier spans. His design was a three-span, steel and iron, pin-connected Petit thru truss variation of the Pratt truss with vertical end posts constructed on two granite piers, a less common form that could carry much heavier loads of traffic, wind, and water than the regular Pratt truss. Webster first proposed a two-deck bridge whose unbuilt upper deck would have carried a railroad, trolleys, and vehicles between the bluffs of West Fairmount Park and the river terrace of East Falls. City Council appropriated $300,000 for the project, and Filbert, Porter and Company of Philadelphia completed it in nine months at a total cost of $261,744.37, four months behind schedule. Measuring 566 feet long and 40 feet wide, Webster's Petit truss bridge, unlike its six predecessors, survived ice, storms, and floods and continues to carry traffic over the river at the Falls of the Schuylkill.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania · United States