Riegelsville (1837-1903)

Riegelsville

The Riegelsville Delaware Bridge Company opened its cross-river covered bridge in December 1837. At a length of 577 feet, the Burr-style bridge had three spans.

A ferry had been first in service at the location in the 1770s. In 1806, Benjamin Riegel acquired the ferry and the land near it. Riegel later bought the land on the New Jersey side of the ferry and both locations became known as Riegelsville.

The original bridge cost $18,900 and had a sidewalk. One span was lost in an 1841 flood and had to be replaced. After two spans on the New Jersey were swept away in the October 1903 flood, the Riegelsville Delaware Bridge Company paid for a replacement bridge from the Roebling Company in Trenton. The steel-rope suspension bridge opened in 1904.

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