The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1888-02-24
HARTFORD HISTORY.
The Building ola Bridge Eighty Years
Ago.
lSO7--lSlO.

lS07--lSlO.
Among the papers left by the late Thomas A.
Hays, (of Bel Air,) and now in possession OF
Stevenson Archer, ESQ., arc four subscription
papers for the building of q bridge over the
Little Falls, the oldest of which is dated 4th
Sept, 1909: 1--WE the subscribers, considering
that the building of q bridge over the Little
Falls, on the new road from Bel Air TO Balti-
more, will be ofgreat convenience to the inhabi
;ants Of the central part of Hartford county, do
promise and agree to pay TO the person or per-
sons who shall undertake the same, the sums
by us respectively subscribed, TO be laid out in
building said bridge" The original date of this
paper, however, was 18th March, 1907 which is
erased, and the date already given substituted
for 1t, which clearly shows that the subject had
been agitated at the earlier date; while the era
sure Of the words, 'who shall undertake."
which stood in the original, and the substitu-
ton of who have undertaken" indicates with
equal certainty that the project had been, or was
about to be, actually commenced at the later
date. Whether or not any of the fifteen names
appended-the amount Of subscription being
SS4-were signed previous to the last date can
not be known.
Another paper of the very same date as the
above has 50 subscribers, 10 the amount OF $104.
The wording differs from that of the paper Just
quoted, in that the Subscribers promise ito pay
the several sums TO John Moores, John For
wood and Henry Dorsey, the persons appointed
by the Levy Court to superintend the building
OF said bridge" The next paper, dated in the
same year us the two preceding, (most probably
later in the year, neither the month nor the day
being givenO shows considerable progress-the
county authorities having meanwhile come to
the rescue in a substantial form. "lSO9-
Whereas the Levy Court has levied the sum of
one hundred pounds ia little over S266l for the
erection of a BRIDGE" and so on; 'and has ap-
pointed Gilbert Jones to superntend the cree.
ton thereof which sum we think insufficient to
complete the same, we promise to pay to the
said Gilbert Jones the several sums" and SO on.
The order of the Levy Court probably required
that an mount equal TO that levied should be
raised by private subscription. This paper has
only three signatures, SIG being the amount sub
scribed.
The fourth and last subscription paper dated
18th June, 1910, promises "to pay to Gilbert
Jones the several sums, subscribed, before the
first day of August next, for finishing and com
plotting the bridge, which is at this time begun
and erecting over the Little Falls" There are
nine names appended, the amount promised
being SIS.
To sum up, the TWO highest subscriptions, of
$50 each, were made by Thomas Kell (after-
wards Judge and John Amos, whose enthusiast
tic impulse at the outset does not seem to have
endured TO the end, as the former only paid IS,
and the latter is marked "not paid" John
Yelott and Daniel Lambourn-the latter living
on Winters Run, subscribed and paid $40 each
The following paid S. each: Luke Amos, DR..
Elijah Davis, Henry Dorsey, John Ford, Samuel
Richardson, Joshua Husband, William Smith
son, George Presbury, John Henderson, John
Clendenin, William D. Lee, Aquila Hall, John
Montgomery, William Amos, and John For
wood The subscriptions of the remainder
ranged from one to four dollars. The structure
seems to have been completed about three and
O half years after the subject was first agitated,
at cost of some $500.
or course the great object of Marylanders at
that time was to get ready access to the city of
Baltimore; it is not therefore at all strange that
the people of Baltimore county, just over the
Falls, gave no material support to project
that would merely aid them In getting further
away from that metropolis. When, however,
some twenty years later, 1t was proposed to
erect q bridge across the same stream at Lees
Mill in Hartford county, only mile or two be-
low, authority was given by act of Assemble
'to levy $500 equally between Baltimore and
Hartford counties" for that purpose-access to
that extensive mill being an important object
with the farmers OF both counties. In the same
year-lS33, bridge was authorized by act of
Assembly to be built across Broad Creek-at
what point have not learned nor whether such
bridge was then built. Three years before
bill was reported III the House OF Delegate by
Mr.. Johns for erecting bridge over Bynum's
Run; but tmay not at that time have become
a law.
1t would be interesting 10 know where the
first few bridges across any considerable
streams in Hartford were built-by what
authority, at whose expense and at what points;
whether they were covered or open structures,
&c. The only mention that l rccolect, of a
bridge OF the last century within or on our bor-
ders, is TO he found III the records of our Circuit
Court. We read there that on the 29ih Sept,
1889, Gabriel Paterson Vanhoru and William
McComas bonded in the sum of one hundred
pounds 10 use properly ESQ which had been
"levlcd to repair the bridge over the Little
Falls" bridge to require repairing, unless
destroyed by flood, must have been in existence
a cons siderable time and since IL is not at all
likely that the bridge in question was erected
during the revolutionary period, which had
ended only six years before, it probably exist
ed previous to that time. Nor is it likely that
there was at the date of the bond above referred
to, any other bridge over the Little Falls, other
wise 1t would have been necessary to designate
which of them was meant Such being the
case, il may be fairly inferred that the bridge
to be repaired was near the mouth of the Falls,
81 the point where the "old post road" from
to llavre de Grace, by way of ADing-
don, crossed that stream mile or two from
Joppa. All travel at that time between the
north and south passed over that road, and
there must have been either bridge or ferry
ut that point for the conveyance across of stages
aud other vehicles, to say nothing of horsemen
and pedestrians; for fording SO near the mouth
of the stream, even if available at the most
favorable times, must often have been rendered
useless by floods or tide.
feJ. 0h 1888. q. w. ARCHER.