The Florida East Coast Railway Bridge

Name/Title

The Florida East Coast Railway Bridge

Entry/Object ID

2016.019.069

Description

The Florida East Coast Railway Bridge with the St. Elmo W. Acosta Bridge Designer: George S. Morrison (1887); H.M. Brown (1923-25) No bridge spanned the St. Johns River when Henry M. Flagler, railroad tycoon, wished to attract Northerners to St. Augustine with the building of his luxury hotel, the Ponce de Leon. In January 1888, surveys were begun for a railroad bridge to cross the river and Flagler formed the Jacksonville Bridge Company to construct the steel-span at a cost of $1,000,000. Unfortunately, this would mark the decline of Jacksonville as a major tourist center. Work on a double track bridge began in 1923. The old swing draw bridge was replaced by a 216-foot fixed bascule bridge, with a 1,500 ton concrete counterweights making it the heaviest bascule bridge at the time. It was completed in 1925, with a total cost of $2,000,000.

Collection

Woodward Photo Collection

Made/Created

Studio

The Woodward Studio, Inc.

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Photograph, Black-and-White

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Photograph

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Graphic Documents

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects