1960: Delaware Gets a New Bridge on a Cold Winter Day

January 9, 1960

In a Saturday ceremony, a cantilever truss bridge in northern Delaware was officially dedicated. This structure, which was named the Summit Bridge after a community in that vicinity of the state, crosses the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. (This canal connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay.) The Summit Bridge replaced a longtime swing-space structure that had been built about 3,600 feet (1,097.3 meters) to the east.

The Morning News, a newspaper based in the Delaware city of Wilmington, reported on the inauguration of the Summit Bridge. “Saturday’s dedication was brief because of the bitter cold,” noted the Morning News. “It took place at the north terminus of the bridge. The speeches were brief in the presence of about 1,500 persons.” The ribbon-cutting duties for the ceremony were performed by J. Allen Frear Jr. (1903-1993), who served as U.S. senator from Delaware from 1949 to 1961.

The Summit Bridge carries Delaware Routes 71 and 896 across the canal. The bridge also serves as a link for Delaware Bicycle Route 1, which covers 150 miles (240 kilometers) between the state’s northern border with Pennsylvania and southern boundary with Maryland.

Photo Credit: Cutter Legare (https://www.flickr.com/photos/coastguardnews/3115426015/) – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

For more information on the Summit Bridge, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Bridge