TWO CENT BRIDGE
Temple Street & Kennebec River

In 1901 a 700' steel suspension bridge was privately constructed over the Kennebec River. It was in operation for only a few days when the highest river levels seen since 1832 carried it away. Rebuilt in 1903, it is one of the oldest surviving wire-cable steel suspension bridges and is considered to be the last known extant toll footbridge in the United States, earning it a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

The bridge was intended to give workers coming from Temple Street in Waterville easy access to the Hollingsworth & Whitney Company (later, the Scott Paper Company) factories located across the Kennebec in Winslow. The original toll was one cent, but soon rose from a penny to two cents, which was collected by gatekeepers who lived in a small building on the Waterville side.

“Head of Falls” (pictured left) contained the Wyandotte Worsted Woolen Mill and the Waterville Iron Works. The area also included many small apartment buildings and houses, primarily inhabited by the Lebanese community who worked in the mills. Phase II of Urban Renewal (1970s) removed all remaining buildings from the site.

In 1935 a “100 year flood” left the two-cent bridge as the only connection between Winslow residents and all of the public necessities such as food and health services that existed only on the Waterville side of the river.

The toll increased to 50 cents before being discontinued in 1960 when heirs of the original owners gifted the bridge to the City of Waterville.