Centre Bridge, Pennsylvania

Centre Bridge is an unincorporated community on the Delaware River in Solebury Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located at the crossroads of River Road (PA 32) and Upper York Road (PA 263), it lies 3 miles (4.8 km) north of New Hope. The spelling of the name of the village is traditional.

Centre Bridge was originally called Reading's Ferry after the proprietor of the original ferry at this point[1] on the Old York Road between Philadelphia and New York. In 1814 a covered wooden toll bridge was built there. In 1923 lightning struck the bridge and the resulting fire destroyed the bridge. The fire was depicted in a famous painting by Edward Willis Redfield who lived in a farm house just north of the bridge. The current Centre Bridge-Stockton Bridge was completed in 1926.

The Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania Canal runs along the river between Centre Bridge and the river.

For more than two hundred years there has been an inn at the crossroads. It has burned several times. The last time it burned to the ground, in the early 1960s, the centuries-old stone walls tumbled. This time it was rebuilt by more modern although less picturesque standards.

Notes

1. "Solebury Township Bucks County Pennsylvania, a Short History of the Township and a Report on Township Officers and Affairs", by John Richardson, Offset Service Company, Philaldelphia, 1958.