Falls Bridge

Falls Bridge. . , Erected in 1894-1895, the Falls Bridge connects East Falls and West Fairmount Park. Six previous bridges spanned the Schuylkill River at this location. The first, a chain suspension bridge built in 1808, lasted until 1816 when a heavy snowfall destroyed it. The nation's first wire suspension bridge, the "spider bridge", replaced it, but the new bridge survived only six months before a snow and ice storm wrecked it. In 1822, 1850, 1878 and 1893, winter storms and high winds carried away the four succeeding timber bridges., George S. Webster, the City's Chief Engineer and Surveyor from 1893 to 1913, designed a new metal truss bridge to withstand the forces of wind and water that had destroyed six earlier bridges over the Schuylkill River at East Falls. He created a three-span, steel and iron, pin-connected Petit thru truss variation of the Pratt truss with vertical end posts constructed on two granite piers. Although less common than the regular Pratt truss, the Petit variation could bear much heavier loads of traffic, wind and water. Webster originally proposed a bridge with two decks. Never constructed, the upper deck would have carried a railroad, trolleys and vehicles between the bluffs of West Fairmount Park and the river terrace of East Falls., City Council appropriated $300,000 for the Falls Bridge project. Filbert, Porter and Company of Philadelphia completed it for a total cost of $261,744.37 in nine months, four months behind schedule. It measures 566 feet in length and 40 feet in width. Unlike its six predecessors, Webster's Petit truss bridge has survived ice, storms and floods and continues to carry traffic over the river at the Falls of the Schuylkill.