Name/Title
St. Elmo W. Acosta BridgeEntry/Object ID
2016.019.068Description
St. Elmo W. Acosta Bridge with the Osceola passing underneath
In 1904, St. Elmo "Chic" Acosta began an active campaign to build a bridge for vehicles to cross the river (other than the Florida East Coast Railway Bridge, built in 1889). He was elected to City Council in 1908 and 1912 and the state legislature in 1913, with the proposed bridge one of his major issues.
In 1917, Jacksonville citizens approved a $950,000 bond issue to build the bridge. Construction began on September 24, 1919 and the first automobile drove over the "Jacksonville - St. Johns River Bridge" on July 1, 1921. Over 5,000 cars streamed across the bridge on the first day.
The bridge was proclaimed to be "Duval County's Gift to Florida". Tolls were put in place immediately and were removed in 1940, by which time the bridge had earned $4,100,000 (the bridge initially cost $1,200,000)
On August 17, 1949, the name of the bridge was changed to the "St. Elmo W. Acosta Bridge", two years after Chic Acosta's death.
The Acosta Bridge was the first vertical lift bridge in Florida and the first automobile bridge over the St. Johns River. It was the first bridge in the southeast to use a pneumatic process for the placement of its caissons. The total length of the bridge, including ramps, was three-quarters of a mile. The two towners were 228-feet above the water and each of the counterweights were over 350 tons of concrete.
In 1988, the U.S. Department of Transportation gave $3.5 million to pay for protecting the foundations of Acosta Bridge and its companion railway span during the construction of a replacement bridge.
This Acosta bridge was demolished in February 22, 1992. The new Acosta Bridge opened August 8, 1994 at a cost of $153 million.Collection
Woodward Photo CollectionMade/Created
Studio
The Woodward Studio, Inc.Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Photograph, Black-and-WhiteNomenclature Primary Object Term
PhotographNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication Objects