Trolley on Walnut Street Bridge

A trolley travels over the Walnut Street Bridge between Harrisburg and the West Shore. Though now a pedestrian bridge from Harrisburg to City Island (the 1996 flood damage to the west span being widely known), the bridge originally also carried motor vehicles and railway cars. The People's Bridge Company was formed to finance the construction of a new bridge in 1889. Due to the monopoly then held by the Harrisburg Bridge Company and the resultant high rates it charged for crossing the Camelback (Market Street) Bridge, a new bridge was widely supported by the public. After a brief but intense legal battle initiated by the Harrisburg Bridge Company in a failed attempt to preserve its monopoly, construction began in April, 1889. The bridge opened a year later, and the railway tracks were added in 1894. Photo ID: T05336.