Name/Title
Florida East Coast Railway Bridge swing bridge.Entry/Object ID
2003.001.103Description
Florida East Coast Railway 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 luxery 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. Unfortunatley, 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
Chapin Photographic CollectionLexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Secondary Object Term
Print, PhotographicNomenclature Primary Object Term
PhotographNomenclature Sub-Class
Graphic DocumentsNomenclature Class
Documentary ObjectsNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication Objects