Dix Bridge

Dix Bridge was built to provide a free crossing between the milling, manufacturing, shopping, and shipping centers of the Village of Schuylerville and the Hamlet of Thomson. Lumber merchant and hamlet namesake Lemon Thompson and Daniel A. Bullard, owner of the Schuylerville Paper Co., were responsible for the bridge connecting the two communities. Although two privately constructed toll bridges already crossed the Hudson, this bridge alone was free to all pedestrians and vehicles. Work began on June 3, 1895, and three months later Bullard and Thompson were the first to cross it. The Schuylerville Standard praised the new crossing because people on the other side of the river could now come to town to trade without paying for the privilege, and the bridge became known as the Free Bridge. Many years later it was renamed for local manufacturer and politician John Alden Dix, Thompson's son-in-law, who took over the Thompson Mills and developed them into the expansive Iroquois Paper Mill and later served as New York State Governor from 1911 to 1912. Today the bridge links pedestrian, bicycle, and snowmobile trails in Washington and Saratoga counties, and after closing because of disrepair, it was rehabilitated and reopened in 2013 through a multi-partner community effort using federal, state, and local funding as well as private donations.

Northumberland, New York · United States