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History Lives

Bridge Point

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The village of Edison in Doylestown Township was originally named Bridge Point, after a seven-arch stone bridge there. Built in 1800, the bridge carried the main highway from Philadelphia to Doylestown across the Neshaminy Creek.

From the late 1890s until the early 1930’s it also bore regular trolley service between Doylestown and Willow Grove.

The bridge crossed the creek at an angle to the main road creating a sharp turn in the roadway which was, according to the local newspaper, “a hazard to be on the lookout for while driving when the roadway is slippery or icy and the night heavy with fog.”

The May 20, 1937 edition of the Intelligencer reported, “One of the outstanding engineering projects of this section of the state got under way this week when construction work was started on the new Edison bridge along the Lackawanna Trail at Edison, south of Doylestown.” The highway, now designated as Route 611, was rerouted, eliminating the dangerous curve and bypassing the stone arch bridge.

By 1938 the old bridge was no longer in use, and sometime in the 1950s it was demolished.

Today, the old road to the former bridge is blocked by a wall crossing the remains of a trolley track, and no remnant of the bridge can be seen along the banks of the Neshaminy.

Doylestownhistorical.org


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