Crossing the Susquehanna in the Wyoming Valley evolved from Native American canoes and settlers' ferries to a succession of bridges linking Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. A wooden covered bridge opened in 1818 as the valley's first bridge to span the river, and after a windstorm swept it away, a duplicate quickly replaced it. During the late 19th century, the boom in iron bridge construction brought a sturdier four-span steel structure that carried ever increasing traffic. In 1929, New York architects Carrere and Hastings designed a neoclassical-style concrete bridge whose grandeur reflected the coal kingdom's prosperity on the eve of the Depression and the city-beautiful movement. Its four pylons, arched sidewalk openings, perched carved eagles, and inscriptions honoring fortitude, service, industry and culture announced the entrances to Wilkes-Barre and Kingston. Opened with fanfare, the bridge served everyday life in the depressed 1930s as people crossed to Kingston for rodeos in the Armory or to Wilkes-Barre for movies and vaudeville shows, and from its railing looked over the flats below Kirby Park toward fires in Roosevelt Circle, a shantytown for hoboes and tramps.