Spider Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill facts for kids

The Spider Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill was a special footbridge built in 1816. It stretched across the Schuylkill River just north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Even though it was a simple and temporary bridge, many people believe it was the very first suspension bridge in the world to use wire cables!

The Earlier Chain Bridge

"View of the Chain Bridge invented by James Finley Esq." from The Port Folio, June 1810.

Before the Spider Bridge, there was another bridge called the Chain Bridge at Falls of Schuylkill. It was an iron-chain suspension bridge designed by an engineer named James Finley. This bridge was built in 1808 at a place called Falls of Schuylkill. It was one of the first suspension bridges ever built in the United States.

To get the materials for the Chain Bridge, two ironmakers, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard, built a special factory called a rolling mill. It was right next to the river.

Sadly, the Chain Bridge didn't last very long. Even though Finley had a patent for his design, the bridge had problems. In September 1810, part of it broke when a group of cattle was crossing. Then, in January 1816, the whole bridge fell down. This happened because of a lot of heavy snow and a piece of wood that had rotted.

Building the Wire Footbridge

When the Chain Bridge collapsed, it was a big problem for the people living in the village of Falls of Schuylkill. The next closest bridge, called "The Colossus," was five miles away!

Josiah White, one of the ironmakers, decided to build a new bridge. He seemed to use the old Chain Bridge as an idea, but he used strong iron wires instead of chains.

White & Hazard had factories on both sides of the river. They built a "curious temporary bridge" by hanging wires from the top windows of their factory on one side to large trees on the other. These wires hung in a curve. From these main wires, other wires hung down to support a floor made of boards. This floor was only about 18 inches (0.45 meters) wide.

The bridge's floor was 400 feet (121.9 meters) long, and it didn't have any supports in the middle of the river. It cost only $125 to build! White & Hazard charged a small toll of one cent for each person who crossed. Once they made back the money they spent building it, they made the bridge free to use.

They put up a sign saying that only eight people should be on the bridge at one time. But one visitor wrote to a newspaper saying he saw "thirty people on it at a time, including rude boys running backward and forward."

No one knows exactly how long the Spider Bridge stayed open, but it was probably less than a year. A new wooden covered bridge was finished in 1818, built on the same stone supports as the old Chain Bridge.

A British Officer's View

In 1816, a British Army officer named Captain Joshua Rowley Watson visited Philadelphia. He saw the "Spider Bridge" and thought it could be very useful for the military. He wrote down its length as 407 feet (124 meters) and even drew pictures of it.

In his diary, he described the bridge:

• He noted that Mr. White, a Quaker, built it.
• He thought the way it was built was very original.
• The main walkway was held up by two iron wires that stretched across the river. These wires were attached about 50 feet (15 meters) above the water.
• Shorter wires hung down from the main wires to support the wooden planks of the walkway.
• There were also wires on each side that acted like guardrails to help people cross safely.
• Watson said the bridge was 407 feet long and 18 inches wide.
• Mr. White told him that 45 men had been on it at once, and he thought 50 could cross if they walked steadily.
• Watson believed such a bridge could be quickly built by soldiers to cross a river.

Watson also noted that when he crossed the bridge, it vibrated a lot. He said it was difficult to walk on if you weren't used to that kind of motion.

A French Engineer's Description

A French engineer named Joseph Louis Etienne Cordier also wrote about the wire footbridge in 1820. He said it was the very first bridge of its kind.

He described how it was attached to a window of the wire factory on one side and a large tree on the other. The two main curves that held the bridge were made of three iron wires, which together were about 3/8 of an inch thick. Vertical iron wires hung down from these curves to support the deck, which was 16 feet (4.9 meters) above the water. The planks for the walkway were 2 feet long, 3 inches wide, and 1 inch thick. Eight iron wires on each side served as guide rails.

Cordier also provided some interesting details about the bridge's weight and cost:

He estimated that a bridge like this could be built in just 15 days during the summer, and the total cost would be less than $300.

Where Was It Located?

Old photographs from the mid-1800s show buildings along the banks of the Schuylkill River. One of these buildings might have been White & Hazard's rolling mill, where the Spider Bridge was anchored.

The exact spot where the wire footbridge stood isn't known for sure. However, it was somewhere between the Reading Railroad Bridge (built later, in 1853–56, and still used today) and the Falls Bridge. It was probably around the area where the Roosevelt Boulevard's Twin Bridges now cross the Schuylkill River.

Images for kids

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  Falls of Schuylkill, seen from the western side of the river. The Reading Railroad Bridge (built 1853–56, still in use) is near where the Chain Bridge used to be. One of the buildings on the far shore might be White & Hazard's factory. Laurel Hill Cemetery is visible at the top right.

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  "View from Laurel Hill Cemetery, Phila." The Spider Bridge was located upstream of the Chain Bridge, somewhere between the Reading Railroad Bridge (center) and the Falls Covered Bridge (upper right).

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  The Twin Bridges in 2010. The Reading Railroad Bridge is on the left, and the Falls Bridge is on the far right.