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Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
THE MANY FACES OF KENT BRIDGE
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
It was known as Kelley's Corners, Gee's Ferry, Arnold's Mill or Howard Bridge but the area about ten miles east of Chatham huddled against the banks of the Thames River is known to most of us as, simply, Kent Bridge. It is in all aspects though, a small community with a big past.It was, according to historical accounts, the spot where the natives known as the Attawandarons met and probably hunted and fished for the abundant number of fish that once inhabited the stream.
A short distance east of the present day community the famed Arnold's Mill was constructed and of course lives on to-day in history as the site where Chief Tecumseh spent his last night on earth.
Long before the first bridge was constructed in 1826 in this area the spot near Arnold's Mill was known as Howard Bridge. Although it was not really a bridge, as we think of it, it was a shallow spot on the Thames where the stream could be forded relatively easily. In fact, the U.S. army in pursuit of the British in the War of 1812 crossed at this spot.
As life went on the pattern of settlement shifted westward from Arnold's Mill to the present site of Kent Bridge. Here a man by the name of John White built a home (Lot # 24) and established a post office (only the second one to be established in Kent County). At this juncture the post office was called Kelley's Corners.
In 1826 the first wooden bridge to cross the Thames River in Kent County was constructed at approximately the middle of Lot # 3.
In 1826 the first store was established in the community by Thomas Lyons followed, in 1845, with a brickyard as well as a ferry operated by Christopher Gee.
Some time before the 1840s a long log cabin was built that was designed to service both the academic (a school) as well as the spiritual needs (a church) of the community.
In 1854 a new bridge was built (approximately where to-day's bridge exists in the community) that was a wooden covered bridge. The bridge was given the name Kent Bridge and the community that gradually began to expand around the bridge became to assume the same moniker.
In less than seven years there was a need to build a new bridge at the site that was designed of iron and, as a result, had a longer expected life than the original wooden bridge. After all, the hamlet now had a new school (1872) and its second church (1857).
In 1875, the official opening of the new iron bridge was the scene of great excitement and, by 1870s standards, spectacle! The newspaper of the day
(Thamesville Express) reported that the new bridge, with a large crowd in attendance, was "scientifically" tested.
Five loads of gravel, pulled by six husky work horses and seventy five men, boldly ventured out onto the new bridge and, amidst great cheers and sighs of relief, I am sure from those crossing, were able to cross without the bridge even issuing one groan of complaint! The Thamesville Express ventured to guess that the combined weight crossing the new bridge that day "must have exceeded 46,300 pounds".
The new bridge also featured an innovation usually reserved for those places with a much larger population. The 1875 iron bridge featured handrails for the safety of not only horse-powered conveyances and riders but also for the pedestrians wishing to cross the Thames River.
The latter consideration seems to suggest that there were enough people in the area to warrant such a modern and rather extravagant convenience as a handrail.
The first express train to pass through the growing hamlet of Kent Bridge was in 1890. The excitement of that express train whizzing through Kent Bridge must have been thrilling but it also was the first distant echo of a relentless future. It would be a future that would, eventually, leave many such small communities like Kent Bridge as only a faint vestige of what it once was and what the community once seemed to promise.
Although the Kent Bridge may not have developed into a large metropolis it has also as a result kept much of is small community charm.
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
