Long known by locals as The Singing Bridge, the Route One crossing of the Patchogue River will be officially given that name at a Thursday, Oct. 5 public ceremony. This celebration could instead have been a wake for the Singing Bridge name, were it not for the actions of State Representative Devin Carney and vocal locals.

Earlier this summer, several Hartford-area legislators proposed renaming the Singing Bridge with the name of a Hartford-area resident. This move was only thwarted through the intervention of Carney and vocal locals who clearly love their Singing Bridge; the legislature voted instead to recognize the local name.

Built originally in 1925 by the Holbrook Company, the bridge was part of a major State Department of Transportation (DOT) project in the 1920s that straightened out Route One all along the shoreline.

“The bridge was the largest project in a 1920s phase of [DOT] bridge construction. It was prefabricated [in sections] by the American Bridge Company and then was assembled on site,” said Westbrook resident Sid Holbrook.

The name “Singing Bridge” has been around for a while, according to records. As Holbrook explained, there is even a photo archive entry in the Library of Congress identifying the steel truss bridge as the Singing Bridge.

The detailed photo series was created in 1968 by the Historic American Engineering Record and then contributed to the Library of Congress. Included with the photos of the bridge is a bridge description, a review of its history, and the reason for its historic significance. The Library of Congress has placed the photos and the annotations online for public viewing.

The photo archive entry notes that the “Singing Bridge, State Bridge 00349, has been determined eligible for listing to the National Register of Historic Places by the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Singing Bridge is significant for its association with the growth of the Connecticut state government’s responsibility for bridge construction and design, and was the largest project in a phase of smaller bridge reconstructions undertaken along U.S. Route 1 during the 1920s. Singing Bridge is significant as a well-preserved example of an early-20th century Pratt steel truss highway bridge, and as an example of a bridge designed as a response to the increasing motor vehicle weights of the 1920s.”

One detail of the bridge construction not mentioned in the Library of Congress entry was shared by Holbrook. When the bridge sections arrived on site and the crew began assembly, one rivet hole wasn’t in the right place, so instead of re-drilling it to fit the bolt, the bolt-hole was filled with wax and painted on top so it would look like the other real bridge rivets.

“Fortunately, that one rivet was not of structural significance,” said Holbrook.

The original metal truss bridge was refurbished in 1955 by another Holbrook family company, the John G. Holbrook and Sons Company. In 1993, the Connecticut DOT decided it was going to tear it down and install a new concrete bridge.

That proposal did not sit well with locals.

“People were opposed to that. So we convinced DOT to build a new steel bridge—it’s cheaper to build a steel bridge, but the life span is less,” said Holbrook.

The reconstructed steel truss Singing Bridge re-opened to traffic in May 2002.

What made—and makes—the rumbling pitch that gave the bridge its name?

As Holbrook explained, the precise musical pitch made by a vehicle traveling across the bridge is based on the height of the bridge above the water, the thickness of the deck, and the strength/flexibility in the materials of construction. Since the new bridge is a stronger, stiffer bridge than the older bridge as it aged, the pitch it makes is now lower and not quite as resonant as before, but the bridge still sings, to the delight of all who remember and hear its distinctive rumble.

The John Wilson Bridge

Also being recognized at the Oct. 5 ceremony is a second naming action by the Connecticut State Legislature to officially designate the concrete Route One bridge over the Menunketesuck River as the John Wilson Bridge to honor this Westbrook resident.

As Westbrook Historical Society President Cathie Doane explained, Wilson lived in a home just north of this bridge and explored the river edge, finding artifacts of early Native American life in the river there. He was a collector and artist who was passionate about history. Wilson was also the first president of the Westbrook Historical Society and worked to preserve historical artifacts and documents representing moments in the Town’s history.

A ceremony to celebrate the official naming of the Singing Bridge and re-naming of the John Wilson Bridge will be held on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 4:30 p.m. in the clubhouse at the North Yard of Pilot’s Point Marina at 63 Pilot’s Point Drive. The public is invited.