Recently in Columbia, PA Category

Lewis Miller drawing of himself and friends admiring 1868 Wrightsville bridge.

Bridges make our lives so much more convenient.

We have recently been hearing about the high cost of maintaining bridges. They are, of course, much more expensive to build from scratch.

Where would we be if we didn't have the four bridges (Norman Wood in the south, two at Wrightsville in the middle, and Route 76 in the extreme north) that cross the Susquehanna River from York County?

Wrightsville has always occupied an important location in the transportation network. The Monocacy Trail, orginally a Native American path, became one of the first roads for the European settlers to York County and beyond. That road crossed the Susquehanna River at Wrightsville, first by ferry and then over bridges covered and modern.

The Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal, opened in 1840, followed the west bank of the river from the Chesapeake Bay to Wrightsville. Then the mules, working from towpaths on the covered bridge, pulled the canal boats across the river to Columbia to continue on their journey up the east bank.

Railroads soon replaced canals as movers of people and freight, again crossing the bridge at Wrightsville. The excerpt below from the November 20, 1877 Gazette shows the hazards passengers could face and the volume of products shipped out from Wrightsville.

Yorkers did not lack for entertainment. Traveling performers and theater groups of all kinds made regular stops in York. The draw of the menagerie was usually the assortment of exotic animals, but the one the came to town in May 1843 added lots of drama to the animal acts.

The sizable announcement in the Gazette was an enticing piece of advertising:

My recent York Sunday News column outlined York’s enthusiastic proposal to become the permanent capital of the United States.

Motions, debates, and votes for one location or another flew in 1789 during the first Congress under the United States Constitution. (The new Congress, which convened March 4, 1789, replaced the Continental Congress, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation.)

Thomas Hartley was one of the four Congressmen from Pennsylvania seated that first day, and he took a vigorous role in the discussions that followed on choosing the capital site.

Even though Hartley lived in York, he first made a push for Wright’s Ferry (Columbia).
Why?