A sample of Wissahickon schist was given out at the opening of the Wissahickon Avenue Bridge. At the dedication ceremony, Carol Jean Vale, SSJ, President of Chestnut Hill College, poked fun at the length of time it took realize the new bridge. She said that it took longer to build it than it took to build the Gold Gate Bridge and the Sears Tower. Among other feats of construction, only the Brooklyn Bridge took longer at 13 years. Half of the 19th century bridge fell into the creek at the beginning of the Clinton Administration. That bridge had been built on eight stone piers of colonial origin. Temporary repairs sustained the bridge for a few years, but when cracks appeared in two of the piers in 1997, it was deemed necessary to replace the it. A furious debate ensued about retaining the historical stonework, which took 5 years to resolve. After a further 330 days of construction, the bridge finally opened on October 26, 2003.
The remnants of the colonial piers can be seen in the banks the the creek under the span of the bridge that allows for overflow in times of flooding. Preserved for the aficionados of historical masonry, it is however unmarked. Also uncredited are the countless hours of detouring that their preservation cost local residents.
The ones who have ventured down to the waterside, apparently did not do so to appreciate our history, or to contemplate the ghost of Marquis de la Fayette crossing the bridge to his encampment at the top of a hill that was to later take his name. Something about the nether regions of bridges draws folk who like to huddle together. Who knew that the Germantown Avenue Bridge has trolls?
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