Fort Hunter Suspension Bridge Company

Fort Hunter Suspension Bridge Company

   Source materials from the Montgomery County Department of History & Archives in Fonda, NY contain not only a two-foot section of the old bridge cabling, but also a folder with documentation on Fort Hunter Bridges.  One of the documents is a letter from the Montgomery County Archivist Ed Sheehan dated March 22^nd, 1956. 

  From his research and local narrative, he wrote that the Fort Hunter suspension bridge was incorporated by shareholders. According to the Articles of Association, the company was to exist for at least fifty years, with a starting stock capital of $9,000. Sheehan’s letter also states that it was built by the Roebling Company, however that has been disputed and credible evidence suggests that they may have only been involved with aspects of the design or execution of its construction. In 2018, Dan Weaver published an article stating, “There is other evidence the Roebling's did not design the Fort Hunter suspension bridge. An 1887 book about RPI alumni states John W. Murphy designed the Fort Hunter suspension bridge and that the ‘bridge had a vertical truss, to insure stiffness, the plan being original with him.’ John W. Murphy was born in New Scotland, near Albany New York, on January 20, 1828. He studied surveying with William Henry Slingerland when he was 15, and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute on May 5, 1847. In 1849 he became the Second Assistant Engineer in charge of the western division of the Erie Canal under Squire Whipple.”

   Within the County Archives is also a letter from Richard Allen, stating that the bridge design was that of John W. Murphy (RPI Class of 1847).  It was stated that in about 1850, Murphy designed a suspension bridge for use across the Mohawk River at Tribes Hill.  Allen claims that Roebling supplied cables, pulling his information from the biographical record of graduates of RPI 1824-1886. 

   In the March 1956 Sheehan letter, is further evidence that the wire cables (made of iron) were smithed along the river at Fort Hunter. These wires were hammered and rolled to 1/8” and bound together. It is specified that they were not twisted.

   The bridge was demolished in 1936, with engineers from the Roebling Company examining the bridge before it was taken down. Their records show the bridge was completed in 1853. That aligns well with other documentary evidence such as the 1852 edition of the Laws of the State of  New York’s entry for the “Fort Hunter Suspension Bridge Company” as well as the already mentioned Articles of Association.

   It all seems a little murky, much like the water of the river the bridge was meant to overcome.

   Dan Weaver wrote in 2018, “The Fort Hunter bridge was among the first 20 suspension bridges built in the US. It was 535 feet long, ten feet wide and twenty feet above the water, according to an 1891 report filed by the company treasurer, H. A. Devendorf. It was a single lane bridge, and tolls were charged to cross it. When bicycles became popular, the toll for wheelmen was dropped from five to three cents for them. The bridge company sometimes held its annual meetings at Newkirk's Hotel; and during some years, the company paid out dividends of 3-4%. In 1885 the bridge was scheduled to be sold at a sheriff's auction due to a $1,400 judgment against the bridge company, but the company managed to get a loan to pay off the amount and the auction was called off.  That same year, the bridge needed $5,000 in repairs.”

   The cost of the repairs and operation of the bridge would be its downfall. After the Barge Canal opened in the Mohawk River, with Lock 12 and dam 8 located directly adjacent to the old “swing” bridge, it was a matter of time before its use could not justify the cost. The towns of Mohawk and Florida tried to keep the bridge in good repair, having taken over the infrastructure from the Bridge Company in 1901 after a series of costly repairs.  Local taxpayers were not very happy with taking on the burden of upkeep.

   By 1925 the Town of Mohawk would request an inspection of the suspension bridge. The job went to the Roebling Bridge Company and after they had completed the work, the NYS Highway Department inspected the septuagenary bridge. It was ultimately deemed unsafe and was closed by the town of Mohawk and town of Florida. The bridge was dismantled in 1935. 

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