At this crossing, a wooden drawbridge built by the Mystic Bridge Co. stood in 1819, followed by a wooden drawbridge by Henry Latham in 1854, an iron swing bridge by A.D. Briggs in 1866, an iron swing bridge by Burlin Const. Co. in 1904, and an iron bascule bridge by American Bridge Co. in 1922. Today's bascule bridge, from the French word for a seesaw, was designed by Thomas E. Brown and patented in 1918. It was the first of its kind in America, cost $134,000, and formally opened on July 19, 1922.