Excerpts from Bath Historical Society Newsletter #30, Times of Bath October 1992, June 1994. Owen History of Bath Maine. The movement for a bridge over the Kennebec was started in 1920 by business interests east of the river who were most affected by the ferry situation.

In 1927 the bridge over the Kennebec superseded the ferries which for more than 200 years had been setting wayfarers across the river. In 1923 the figures were 337,188 passengers, 88,000 automobiles and 9,136 horse-drawn vehicles. A large part was during the summer months when delays were inevitable. Henry Owen recalls one such queue which extended from the Ferry Street slip down Commercial to Vine, through Vine to Washington Street and up Washington to the top of the hill above Centre Street. In 1876, over two days (and the night in between) the ferry “City of Rockland” made 33 trips across the Kennebec in its valiant effort to ferry a 66-car Barnum’s Circus train from Bath to Woolwich.

Sen. Frank W. Carlton of Woolwich introduced the Kennebec River Bill and carried on a magnificent fight for it. It was a battle royal, with some politically powerful interests opposed. The original bill provided for a free bridge. In due course it became evident that this was impracticable of attainment. Mr. Carlton finally consented to compromise on a toll bridge and the bridge was adopted by an overwhelming vote.

The bridge ultimately was named for Sen. Carlton who had fought for the bridge. Not everybody wanted the structure named after Carlton. Chief among these people was State Senator Charles Carter of Auburn. Carter went slightly off the deep end in a patriotic argument on the floor of the Senate. He railed: “This is the only structure of the kind Maine has. It will last forever. To name the bridge for the father of the act would set a precedent. Is this fair to the heroes who sleep under Flanders’ poppies? Is it fair to the veterans of the Civil War? Is it fair to those who followed George Washington through Valley Forge?” Carter died at the age of 46 of what was described as “dilation of the heart induced by complete exhaustion of the nervous system.”

The senators and representatives of Maine, surprising most people at the time, voted unanimously for the passage of the Kennebec Bridge Bill and the three million dollar bond issue for its construction. As far as it was then known, it was the first time in the history of state legislation in the United States that a measure of such size and importance has received the unanimous endorsement of a state assembly.

In the technology of the 1920s the Carlton Bridge was an engineering feat of great magnitude. One of the piers on which the bridge rests was, in 1927, the deepest pneumatic pier in the world. It descended 118.7 feet below mean tide. Eight cement piers for the bridge were constructed using caissons framed with heavy timbers measuring 54 feet long by 27 feet wide by 20 feet high with a steel base for a cutting edge. Additions were made to their tops as they were sunk into the mud and sand at the bottom. Water was then blown out by air pressure and workmen descended to the bottom to uncover the bedrock so that the actual cement work for the piers could begin. Men who worked at that depth were called “Sand Hogs” The “Sand Hogs” rode down in a metal tub 3 feet in diameter and four and one-half feet deep. The same tub was used to haul out the mud and sand exposing the bed rock. The men often experienced the bends, pneumonia and the effects of poison gases. They had to endure 50 pounds of air pressure—two under the limit for humans. 

The then idle Bath Iron Works yard was used for construction of the big caissons used for the underwater work, and the vacant Texas Company shipyard was used for building the seven spans.

The greatest difficulty was encountered with the first pier off the Bath shore, where the caisson, when the ledge was reached, rested upon it only on the inshore side. The opposite side hung some 10 or 12 feet above the ledge which proved to have a steep slope toward the center of the river. In order to found that pier on bedrock, it was necessary to build downward from the bottom of the caisson on three sides to the ledge, by driving timbers through the mud to the ledge and caulking the seams. The discharge of a sewer line nearby added to the difficulties!

The first span was placed on piers on March 19 and the last on September 28, 1927. The plan called for floating the great spans from the Texas Shipyard to the piers on scows with the tide as the agency for lifting the spans off the scow, dropping them into position on the piers. The final span, the draw span, was the most difficult to place on account of the small clearance which amounted to only a fraction of an inch, but it was floated into place without a hitch. Setting the spans in place became a public spectacle as hundreds of people lined the Bath shore to witness a scene never viewed before.

A rumor persisted for years that a worker, standing on the edge of one of the newly poured piers, plunged into a giant pool of wet concrete. It was said that his body remained encased underneath the bridge. In fact three of the contractor’s employees were fatally injured during construction in falls from the superstructure of the bridge.

On October 24, 1927 railway traffic over the bridge was initiated. The first passenger train to cross was an excursion train from Rockland with the Governor, Mayor of Rockland and Senator and Mrs. Frank Carlton. On November 15, 1927 the highway deck was opened by cutting a ribbon near the Bath entrance, a throng of people followed the cars of the governor and other guests to Woolwich. Soon after the bridge was built, plaques were placed at both ends of the bridge. James Jackson, later a toll taker, drove the first car over the bridge. A plaque was made for that occasion. Nate Watson (later longtime popular faculty member and Assistant Principal at Morse High School) at age 14 was the first to ride a bicycle over the bridge but did not get a plaque!

There goes Vine Street! Of all the streets in Bath, none has undergone more physical changes than Vine Street. To make way for the Bath entrance to the highway deck of the bridge, the buildings along south side of Vine Street were removed.

The toll for an automobile including driver was 50 cents. Additional passengers, 5 cents each. Foot passengers were free!

Bath resident Governor Sumner Sewall’s signature freed the bridge from tolls on March 27, 1941. The whistle at the control room of the bridge was blown at 2:15 pm that day in observance of the event. The toll house with underground stairway and toilets was on the Woolwich shore in the middle of the highway. After tolls were abolished, it was used as a State Police facility for some years before being demolished.