<\/p>\n
In all the broadcasts on this program that have mentioned the Kennebec River, there has never been a systematic account of the customary way the people crossed that river in its more populous places late in the 18th century. All the many books about: the Kennebec say little about the river’s important bridges.<\/p>\n
There are today fourteen bridges that span one of Maine’s largest rivers from Moosehead Lake to the ocean. Since the most traveled of those bridges are on the southern part of the river, let us now track them upstream from the Kennebec’s mouth to its source.<\/p>\n
First is the big Carleton Bridge between Bath and Woolwich, the largest bridge on the river. Then comes a long stretch of open water, through the lower reach of the stream, across Merrymeeting Bay to Richmond, just above the northern entrance to the Bay. There is the bridge that connects Richmond on the west side with Dresden on the east. Third is the newest bridge on the river opened at Gardiner in 1979, replacing an older bridge between Gardiner and Randolph. Then at the state capital, Augusta, are two bridges: the old one near Fort Western and
\nthe new high-level bridge that permits bypassing Augusta’s general business district on Water Street.<\/p>\n
There is no other bridge until one reaches Waterville, where the Ticonic Bridge connects the city with one of Maine’s most rapidly growing towns – Winslow. Just north of Waterville is the long three-span bridge that connects Fairfield with Benton; and only a short distance upstream is one of the river’s newest bridges a part of federal highway 1-95 from Augusta to Houlton. That bridge also passes between Fairfield and Benton. although it has no Benton exit. The town of Fairfield is in fact the only community on the Kennebec that has three bridges. The third is at Hinckley, location of the Good Will Home and School. The bridge connects Hinckley with a part of Clinton on the east side, thus effecting a direct route to Canaan and Maine’s important east-west highway, Route 2.<\/p>\n
Next above Hinckley is the two-span bridge at Skowhegan, just below the impressive drop in the river at Skowhegan Falls. Not far upstream is the bridge that is the ornate, arched concrete bridge at Norridgewock. Then, after passing the historic Indian campground at Old Point, one comes to the bridge between Madison and Anson at Solon and Bingham, but still farther upstream its main branch that serves as the outlet of Moosehead Lake is crossed by a small bridge at The Forks, on the highway once known as the Canada Road, extending from Skowhegan to the City of Quebec.<\/p>\n
Having traced the Kennebec bridges geographically, let us now look at each of them chronologically, as they were constructed in time, and our view will be in more detail.<\/p>\n
Before a bridge was built at any of the present bridge sites, the river was crossed at those and other places by ferries. Some of the places that once had ferries but have never had a bridge were Getchell’s Corner where a ferry connected Vassalboro and Sidney; Nobel’s Ferry at the junction of the Fairfield-Skowhegan road with the Ohio Hall road, and, of course, there were other ferries where no bridge was ever built.<\/p>\n
The first bridge on the Kennebec River was opened at Augusta in 1797, only fourteen years after the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. That bridge was the result of heated controversy between the two communities then known as the Hook and the Fort. The Hook became the City of Hallowell, and the Fort became Augusta. Augusta claimed that it, not Hallowell was the true head of navigation as well as tide water. Hallowell folk scoffed that no ocean-going ship could get to an Augusta wharf without running aground.<\/p>\n
However, they had to face the fact that the river was narrower at the Fort, making a bridge much less expensive than at the Hook. Furthermore, a bridge at Hallowell would have to include an expensive draw, to allow any vessels to get to Augusta.<\/p>\n
In 1796 a group of Augusta citizens petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for the right to form a corporation to erect and operate a toll bridge at Augusta. They were opposed by a Hallowell group led by its wealthiest and most influential citizen Charles Vaughan. But Augusta had just as influential leaders, and such men as David Cony and James Bridge persuaded the Legislature in Boston to grant the requested charter.<\/p>\n
The corporation began construction at once, and in 1797 a bridge was opened at a cost of $27,000. Like most of Maine’s early bridges, it was not owned by either a town or a state, but by a private corporation which hoped to maintain and pay for the structure by collection of tolls. Also like most early bridges, it was covered. Some of its timbers were indeed huge 70 feet long and 16 inches square. It had two spans, with a stone pier in the middle of the river. At the time of its opening, the bridge at Augusta was the largest construction enterprise ever authorized by the Massachusetts Legislature to any corporation in Maine.<\/p>\n
That first Kennebec bridge did not suffer the fate of many later bridges on the river – destruction by flood. It just rotted away after twenty years of constant neglect. Suddenly on June 23, 1816 it collapsed into the stream.<\/p>\n
Two years later a new bridge replaced it. That bridge burned in 1827, with suspicion of arson. Less than a year later a third bridge was opened. The Kennebec’s second bridge was built at Skowhegan in 1809. and only a year later came the third bridge at Norridgewock.<\/p>\n
At Skowhegan, an island offered opportunity to place two spans much less expensive than for a single bridge with intervening pieces. Like the bridge at Augusta, it was built and operated by a private company that collected tolls. The toll charges were typical of most early bridges: 6 cents for a foot passenger, 12 cents for a carriage or wagon drawn by one horse, 4 cents for a wheelbarrow or handcart, 25 cents for a two-horse or four-horse team, two cents each for cattle, and for sheep and swine, 6 cents a dozen. The highest charge was for a vehicle owned only by a few more affluent citizens – a chaise. To get that across the Skowhegan bridge cost 37 cents. When a flood carried out the north span of that bridge in 1855, it was rebuilt for $26,000. In 1871 both spans were replaced by iron structures that lasted until construction of the modern cement bridges.<\/p>\n
Originally the Skowhegan bridge connected two different towns – Bloomfield on the west side and Milburn on the east. Now both sides are in the town of Skowhegan. Norridgewock is one of the river’s oldest towns. Within ten years after Benedict Arnold’s army had stopped there in 1775, it had many settlers on both sides of the river that one resident found it profitable to operate a ferry to connect the dwellings on the two sides. In 1810 a bridge replaced the ferry. It lasted for 26 years before giving way to a disastrous flood. Its replacement cost $72,000, more than double the original $30,000. Repeated floods did so much damage that by 1850 Norridgewock had its fifth bridge. That stood until the notorious pumpkin freshet of 1870. In 1930 came the present, arched concrete bridge, the only arched bridge on the river.<\/p>\n
It was the year 1824 that saw the opening of the Kennebec’s fourth bridge at Waterville. It has from the beginning been called the Ticonic Bridge, for at the time of its opening what is now the business section of Waterville was called Ticonic Village, because it was situated at the ancient Ticonic Falls. Of course it was built by a private, toll-collecting corporation. In 1832 what turned out to be the largest flood on the Kennebec for more than a hundred years swept out a part of every bridge on the river. Ticonic Bridge, as well as others, was quickly rebuilt.<\/p>\n
In 1851 the corporation tried to sell the bridge to the towns of Waterville and Winslow, and make it a free bridge. Waterville agreed, and voted to pay its share, $3,000. But Winslow balked for its lower share of $1,500. So the plan fell through. Then a plan to have Kennebec County take over the bridge was equally unsuccessful. In 1870, after the bridge was washed out by Pumpkin Freshet, the county did agree to take the bridge but only if the two towns would operate it. That was rejected. The result was a new bridge that cost $36,000 that cost the Waterville taxpayers $20,000. But the bridge was at last free from tolls.<\/p>\n
Thirteen years later in 1883 that bridge was declared unsafe for traffic, and the two towns of Waterville and Winslow decided to build the river’s first iron bridge without a covering. It was 550 feet between abutments and had a driveway 18 feet wide and a five-foot sidewalk on each side. It cost $37,000.<\/p>\n
Within memory of many persons now living came the great flood of 1936, the largest that up to this time has ever hit the Kennebec since its banks were inhabited by white men. The water rose even higher than in the great flood of 1832. Rushing ice carried out the east span. But, some twenty years earlier, the Lewiston, Augusta and Waterville electric railroad had built its own narrow bridge attached to the south side of Ticonic Bridge. That street railway bridge withstood the flood waters, and until the highway span could be rebuilt it was the only means of vehicle traffic between Waterville and Winslow.<\/p>\n
The latest change at Ticonic Bridge has been construction of new spans on the upstream side, making possible four lanes of divided traffic. That change was made in connection with the Waterville Urban Renewal Project, completely altering the approaches at the west end of the bridge. After the first opening of Ticonic Bridge in 1824, the next Kennebec bridge came at Madison in 1828. That place had had a ferry since 1790. For some time after the bridge was erected, mail to the place was addressed Madison Bridge P.O., Norridgewock Falls, Maine. The freshet of 1832 completely destroyed the first bridge, but it was immediately rebuilt. Other floods did repeated damage until 1870, when the Pumpkin Freshet completely swept out the Madison bridge. Even when that bridge was rebuilt, it continued to collect tolls, and was not freed until it was succeeded by an iron structure in 1901. When that was replaced by a concrete bridge, the town of Madison held a big Fourth of July celebration to honor its newest bridge on the nation’s holiday.<\/p>\n
It was near the middle of the 19th century in 1848 when Fairfield got its first bridge. Just as at Skowhegan, the builders took advantage of islands in the river – this time, two islands between the Fairfield and Benton shores. The three spans thus constructed linked the village of Kendall’s Mills with Benton. Not counted in our account of the Kennebec bridges are the railroad bridges, because they are not used by highway traffic.<\/p>\n
The coming of the railroads brought bridges at Augusta, Waterville, Fairfield and Skowhegan. When the Penobscot and Kennebec R.R. between Waterville and Bangor reached Fairfield in 1855, it crossed the Kennebec just above Fairfield Village, just as it does now. But when the Maine Central management took over in 1870, the route was changed and the railroad crossed the Kennebec downstream nearer to Waterville, and a station was built at Benton, so that for a long time the east end of the Fairfield\/Benton bridge was called Benton Station.<\/p>\n
To placate irate Fairfield citizens for the loss of the railway bridge at their town, the Maine Central bought the three-span highway bridge at Fairfield and made it a free bridge. Fairfield Village did not lose railway traffic altogether, because it already had a station on the Somerset and Kennebec that connected Waterville with Skowhegan. Later the Maine Central reversed its decision and placed a bridge for its crossing of the line to Bangor back above Fairfield Village.<\/p>\n
The second half of the 19th century was getting underway when in 1853 a bridge was built at Gardiner. It was called the Gardiner-Pittston bridge, for what is now Randolph was then a part of the town of Pittston. When in 1887 Randolph became a separate town, the bridge was freed from tolls.<\/p>\n
That completes the story of the Kennebec’s first seven bridges, and we have no more time on today’s program. We shall complete the story next week. But for today we must say goodbye until next Sunday.<\/p>\n
Year: 1980<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Read the script for “Little Talks” program #1253, Broadcast on November 16, 1980<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":405,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35324,35296],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/405"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10000\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}