The Wissahickon Memorial Bridge, originally called and still also known as the Henry Avenue Bridge, is a stone and concrete bridge that carries Henry Avenue over Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek

Wissahickon Creek is a stream in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, it runs about 23 miles passing through and dividing Northwest Philadelphia before emptying into the Schuylkill River at Philadelphia...

 and Lincoln Drive in Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park

Fairmount Park is the municipal park system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It consists of 63 parks, with , all overseen by the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation, successor to the Fairmount Park Commission in 2010.-Fairmount Park proper:...

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

.

It is a two-ribbed, open-spandrel, reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete

Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...

 arch bridge with one principal span. It was designed in 1927 by Paul Philippe Cret

Paul Philippe Cret

Paul Philippe Cret was a French-American architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he headed the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.- Biography :...

, a nationally acclaimed Philadelphia architect, in collaboration with Frank M. Masters, engineered by Ralph Modjeski

Ralph Modjeski

Ralph Modjeski was a Polish-born American civil engineer who achieved prominence as a pre-eminent bridge designer in the United States.-Life:...

 and Clement E. Chase. It was completed in May 1932 at a cost of $1,648,775. It was designed to accommodate a lower deck for subway cars (never built). Shortly after it was built, it was renamed the Wissahickon Memorial Bridge and was dedicated to the people of Philadelphia's northwest neighborhoods who served in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

.

The bridge is 333 feet long, with a main span of 288 feet. Its 60-ft-wide roadway carries two lanes of traffic in each direction. The bridge was repaved and repaired between 2008 and late 2010.

The bridge has been known as a suicide bridge

Suicide bridge

A suicide bridge is a bridge used frequently to die by suicide, most typically by jumping off and into the water below ....

 since its opening. Beginning in 1941 for an unknown duration of time a policeman patrolled the span, questioning all pedestrians walking the bridge.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1988.

External links

• Listing, data, and photographs at the Historic American Engineering Record
• Chronology and images at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings