A hundred years ago, Ansonia’s Bridge Street Bridge and Jersey Street were on everyone’s mind.
Jersey Street ran along the west side of the riverbank, between the Bridge Street and Maple Street bridges, where Riverside Apartments are today.
It was crowded, boasting numerous saloons and immigrants speaking numerous tongues. Many of the houses, tenements, and saloons on it and the side streets radiating from Jersey Street, weren’t well built. Many were built between the riverbank and the road, making it prone to flooding.
Raw sewage draining into the river created an unbelievable stench this time of year.
The nearby Bridge Street Bridge was another headache.
The eastern half, closest to downtown, was made of iron. The western half, near Jersey Street, was part of an old, wooden covered bridge. The covered bridge may have been quaint in yesteryear, but the strain of 20th century traffic was too much, and in May 1908 the trolley company refused to allow its 40 ton cars to pass over it.
Patrons who wanted to cross were given transfers, and had to walk to another trolley on the opposite side of the bridge to complete their journey.
As expected, no one was happy with this.
The city and trolley company each blamed the other for the mess. Engineering studies, threats of lawsuits, and lots of press in the newspapers followed.
The condition of the covered bridge worsened, until finally the city condemned it even to foot traffic. This prompted the trolley company to cancel issuing transfers, to avoid liability, drawing even more howls of protest.
Finally after much turmoil, plans for a new concrete bridge were drawn up. The problem was the new bridge would cost $41,000 (just under $1 million in today’s dollars) more than previously thought.
Both the city and trolley company balked. Then, the bridge plans mysteriously disappeared from City Hall.
Mayor Samuel Charters, himself a union organizer and tired of the whole debate, pledged to fix the bridge himself if he had to. And that’s exactly what he set to do.
Assisted by city employees, he spent a considerable amount of time strengthening the covered portion, until, finally, at least pedestrians and horses could cross and the trolley company resumed issuing transfers.
The Mayor nearly drowned while doing so, jumping clear of a platform on one of the pilings when it collapsed, plunging into nine feet of swift, sewage-laden Nauguatck River water on Aug. 18, 1909.
After swimming to shore, probably with a few choice words, the Mayor changed his clothes, and went back to work.
TO BE CONTINUED…
This story, and many others, can be followed on a day-by-day basis on the Derby Historical Society’s This Week in History page.
Robert J. Novak Jr.
Executive Director
Derby Historical Society
Visit us online at www.derbyhistorical.org
