Yardleyville Bridge Mystery Discussion Set For Thursday

YARDLEY, PA —The Yardley Historical Association will host a program, “Mystery Unsolved: Piecing Together the Yardleyville Bridge Story,” on Thursday.

The event at 7:30 p.m. will be held in the Old Library by Lake Afton, 46 West Afton Ave. in Yardley.

A series of bridges (were there two or three?) once connected Yardley to Wilburtha, N.J.

The river crossing was preceded by various ferries until a local company was legislatively authorized in 1835 to build and operate a private toll bridge.

But when did it open? And who built it? That’s where all the mystery begins.

Joe Donnelly of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission will attempt to unravel
some of the mysteries about the bridge crossing.

The story involves low-denomination promissory notes, railroad barons, a Philadelphia business address, a Trenton trolley enthusiast, quarry operators, scant news accounts, and eventual public ownership by the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Today, the only remaining vestige of the bridge crossing is its abutment on the Pennsylvania side. Find out how and why this river crossing changed over time and why it no longer exists.

The presentation is free, and the public is welcome to attend.

For more information about the program and other activities of the Yardley Historical
Association, call 215-208-1154, e-mail info@yardleyhistory.org , or visit
www.yardleyhistory.org .

The Yardley Historical Association preserves, maintains, and shares the Old Library by Lake Afton and its collections of books, documents, and ephemera related to Yardley’s
history. The community is welcome to come to explore, discover, and have fun.