November 26, 1924
The Bear Mountain Bridge in southeastern New York was officially dedicated. This suspension bridge crosses the section of the Hudson River between Bear Mountain Park in Orange County and the town of Cortlandt in Westchester County.
At the time of its debut, this structure was the world’s longest suspension bridge — a record that stayed intact for only 19 months before the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia claimed that title. The Bear Mountain Bridge also had the distinction of being the first suspension bridge with a concrete deck. This bridge was designed by engineer Howard C. Baird (1868-1957). William Fitch Smith (1871-1937) was the chief engineer in charge of building the bridge.
Construction on the Bear Mountain Bridge commenced on March 24, 1923, more than a half-century after plans for its creation began in earnest with the incorporation of the Hudson Highland Suspension Bridge Company. The urgent need for a bridge at that location gained further momentum with the popularity of Bear Mountain State Park, which opened in 1916, and the increasing inability of ferry boats to satisfactorily accommodate the park’s visitors and their automobiles.
About 1,000 people attended the dedication ceremonies for the Bear Mountain Bridge. A highlight of this celebration involved the unveiling of a bronze tablet on the bridge’s eastern end. The inscription on tablet included the following inscription: “Dedicated to all who with thought, labor and loyalty have contributed to the construction of this bridge and highway.” Traffic across the bridge that day was restricted to automobiles transporting state and county officials, executives of the bridge company, members of the dedication committee, and several hundred invited guests. On Thanksgiving the following day, the bridge was opened to the general public.
In reporting on the dedication of the bridge, the Daily Sentinel — a newspaper based in Rome, New York — underscored the anticipated advantages of the new structure that went well beyond just easier access to Bear Mountain Park. This newspaper asserted, “The bridge will make it possible for thousands of motorists to move in and out of New York City to pints in Western New York, upper New Jersey and Pennsylvania without experiencing delays in crossing the Hudson now encountered.”
Measuring 2,255 feet (687 meters) in length, the Bear Mountain Bridge carries both U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 202. The bridge is also a link for State Bike Route 9 and the Appalachian Trail.
The Bear Mountain Bridge was added to the New York State Register of Historic Places and also the U.S. Register of Historic Places in 1982. In 1986, the American Society of Civil Engineers and the New York State Bridge Authority jointly designated the bridge as a Metropolitan Area Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. (The attached photo featuring an aerial view of the Bear Mountain Bridge was taken in 1925.)
Photo Credit: Public Domain
For more information on the Bear Mountain Bridge, please check out https://nysba.ny.gov/bridge/bear-mountain and https://www.ascemetsection.org/committees/history-and-heritage/landmarks/bear-mountain-bridge
Transportation History 
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