Many of us use it daily without any excitement, but the bridge spanning the Delaware River between New Hope and Lambertville has a 200-year-plus history that includes an illegal bank, state receivership, tolls on pedestrians and livestock, and even a failed trolley line.
The Prallsville Mills speaker series continues at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 19, with Joe Donnelly of the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission telling us more than we ever wanted to know about the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge. The event is free and open to the public.
The structure first opened as a wooden, covered structure in 1815, and has evolved to its current steel truss structure that carries the most pedestrian traffic of any bridge crossing the Delaware River.
Donnelly became the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission’s deputy executive director of communications in February 2008. He previously handled communications in the New Jersey General Assembly, and worked as a reporter for The Record of Bergen County, N.J. A Lambertville resident, he researched the history of the New Hope-Lambertville Bridge for the crossing’s 200th anniversary in 2014.
The Prallsville Mills complex in Stockton, N.J., is considered a significant example of early American industrial architecture, and was included on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today, the Mill proudly features cultural and historic events for the entire community. Learn more about the Mills online.
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