Did you know that our drawbridge is one of the country’s rarest types of movable bridges? It opened in 1922. Prior to this, the Mystic River had been spanned by ferries, drawbridges, and swing bridges since the mid-1800s, as the town of Mystic became one of New England’s most important shipbuilding communities.
That modern structure you see today is called a bascule bridge. That’s French for “seesaw,” as opposed to earlier swing bridges whose span rotated horizontally. When the drawbridge goes up, its roadway actually rotates vertically around huge hidden counterweights that balance out the entire span. Counterbalancing allows hundreds of tons of steel to be lifted using very little power.
Fun facts about the Mystic Drawbridge:
- It’s one of just a few Brown-type bascule bridges still standing in the U.S.
- Its two concrete counterweights weigh about 230 tons each and help balance out the roughly 660-ton bridge span.
- Thomas Ellis Brown designed the bridge. Before becoming a famous bridge designer, Brown worked as the chief engineer for the Otis Elevator Company.
- Many movable bridges hide their mechanics, but not the Mystic Drawbridge. Much of its gearing, linkages, and lifting machinery are on display when the bridge is opened.
- Until trolley service ended in 1928, the drawbridge carried electric streetcars across the Mystic River in addition to cars and pedestrians.
- The bridge is inspected every 100 openings.
Standing over a century old, the Mystic Drawbridge is still going strong. Completed in 2012, the bridges’ last major renovation preserved much of its original operating system, keeping one of Connecticut’s most recognizable historic structures as a working piece of our history, and an amazing example of early twentieth-century engineering.
