Bridgeport’s bridges have bridged the Grand
The Bridges of Bridgeport — never a bestselling novel or topgrossing movie but still a good story. Sitting on a brick pillar near the west end of the current bridge is a Region of Waterloo signboard with that story, full of historical details and illustrations. Even though cars and trucks rumble around the nearby roundabout at Bridge and Lancaster, a visit to the General’s Green parkette provides calm while you read the background to the Bridges of Bridgeport.
Imagine no bridge at Bridgeport! You would then have to travel six kilometres north to Conestogo or an equal distance downstream to Breslau to simply cross the Grand River. In a modern vehicle that would be annoyance enough, but for the earliest settlers in the area, the Grand would have created a liquid wall. John Wissler was one of those early settlers, arriving from Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County around 1830. Modifying the flow of the Grand on the east shore to create a mill race and an island, he erected a small tannery. To access it from the west bank, he built a wire suspension foot bridge. That didn’t last long, and by 1847, two sturdier wooden structures joined west shore to east shore with the island in the middle. The semi-permanent status of the bridge meant that the two small villages facing each other across the Grand (Jacob Shoemaker’s Glasgow/Lancaster on the west side and John Tyson’s Bridgeport on the east shore) could come together in 1856 as a single community.
Almost-annual spring floods damaged these wooden spans during the rest of the 19th century and regular bridge repairs were part of the village life cycle. Tiring of the recurring remedial work, and realizing that traffic was increasing in amount and weight, the County of Waterloo acted. Hamilton Bridge Works erected a two-span, steel truss bridge connecting the west bank to Wissler’s old island plus a smaller pony truss structure to cross the high-water channel (also known as the Cove) from the island to the east shore. While these 1897 steel bridges did survive some severe floods, especially that of 1912, it was obvious that as 20th-century truck traffic increased so did wear and tear.
In 1934, the third Waterloo County concrete bowstring bridge, this one having five spans, was built over the Grand. Paid for jointly by the county and Kitchener, it joined the previously-constructed seven-span structure at Freeport and Galt’s Main Street two-span. Over 84 years, Bridgeport Bridge has survived numerous spring torrents including hurricane Hazel’s havoc in 1954 and the famous 1974 deluge. In 2009, a fullscale restoration began and upon completion a party celebrated its reopening ... and the historical signboard was unveiled.
Image one: The steel truss bridge appeared on a 1906 postcard issued by Berlin’s F.I. Weaver. The two main spans are clearly seen, but toward the right between the two large trees is the pony truss portion. The two bridge sections are separated by Wissler’s old island. During normal flow, very little water ran under the smaller section. In the foreground is a small boat operated by means of an overhead cable. The postcard’s slogan was used by the owners of Riverside Park to entice citizens to board the electric street railway and visit Bridgeport’s attractions.
Image two: The aerial view of 1947 was taken by Garfield Schmidt and is part of his collection donated to the Waterloo Historical Society. The floodplain on the east bank (upper right side of the photo) shows dozens of homes that usually suffered from the spring torrents. The Grand Hotel at bottom left occupied the site of 2018’s roundabout.
Image three: With the newlyrenovated bridge in the background, Barb Quickfall and Patricia Wagner stand in front of the about-to-be unveiled signboard in 2010. They had urged and assisted the Region of Waterloo to erect the Bridgeport Bridge signboard. Each was a passionate history buff and the passing of both since that day has left a big gap in local history knowledge.
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A 2015 Flash from the Past focused on Bridgeport’s Riverside Park and can be seen at www.therecord.com/living-story /5269330-flash-from-the-pastbridgeport-was-the-sincity-of-its-day/.