Broad Street Bridge Company

Stock certificate from 1871

     I recently finished the Broad Street Bridge Company collection I have been working on since the second half of summer. The collection was composed of minute books, correspondence, contracts, deeds, financial bookkeeping, and building plans relating to the Broad Street Bridge Company. The Broad Street Bridge Company was incorporated May 1st 1869. The Broad Street Bridge was made of iron and connected the west side of Main Street with West Bethlehem, crossing above Monocacy Creek. The length of the bridge is 460 feet, divided into three spans of one hundred feet and two of eighty feet each. The bridge was open for travel May 17th, 1871. It was purchased by Lehigh and Northampton counties in 1887, and the collection of tolls ceased May 14th that year. In December 1909, a new modern reinforced concrete bridge was officially opened to vehicles.
     It was interesting to look at the building plans and compare them to what the area looks like today. Looking at the deeds made me very thankful for computer technology. It must have taken a very long time to write out each one. I will now be working on finishing up the Lehigh Bridge Company collection that another Lehigh student worked on during the summer.

Bridge building plan from 1878

Check from 1868

                                                                                                             -Alli Kowalski