Bridges of all shapes and sizes stretch over the waterways of Martin County. Old, new, tall, small. Some bridges are around 100 years old! The Gaines-Annie bridge used to be the gateway to Indiantown but today it is a quaint foot bridge going over the South Fork of the St. Lucie. The bridge onto Hutchinson Island was a toll bridge. Most of the old bridges were either swing bridges or ferry rides. There was even a road named Bridge Road (in Hobe Sound. But why?
The one bridge in Hobe Sound takes you across the dredged intracoastal, onto the exclusive barrier island named Jupiter Island. Once there, you are immediately surrounded by the thick canopies of Ficus tress planted just after World War II by the Reed Family. The Jupiter Island Association raised funds for area beautification. If you head west back onto the mainland, Bridge road stretches over what used to be a massive slough.
Originally, the first rendition of the Hobe Sound bridge was built in 1911 just after the Jupiter Narrows was dredged to form the intracoastal. This bridge was a hand-crank that swung in the center on a pivot. Can you imagine!? The first bridge tender, W. H. Arnold, would often have his wife help! By 1917, A. M. Fields was the tender and for the year 1916, Fields reported that 154 boats passed through, 7070 autos, 262 2-horse drawn carriages, and roughly 12,000 people by foot crossed. That is a lot of traffic for early Hobe Sound!
According to Martin County local Eva Campbell, she recalls stories about this wooden span; “it was said to always malfunction when bridge tenders wanted bootleggers to outrun the feds. The bridge, which hung very low to the water’s surface, was said to open with no trouble for the booze boats. But the tender would always close the bridge very quickly.” But when the feds came through, the bridge miraculously had trouble getting open. The law had little effect in this territory.
In 1916, the bridge at Hobe Sound was hit smashed by the dredge, “Anna” of Jacksonville. Eli Sims and J. D. Thompson were the men who quickly rebuilt it. Traversing the Jupiter Narrows prior to dredging was no easy feat. The waterway was known for its shallow and winding route. Once the waterway was deepened and straightened, the journey was not so perilous.
For a short period of time, Hobe Sound was called Olympia/Picture City in relation to the Hollywood style operation that was being built on the mainland. Boat loads of people were coming into the area hoping to get in on the fledgling film industry. By the mid-1920’s the safety of the bridge became a concern and concrete was considered for the first time for the new construction of the Olympia (Hobe Sound) Bridge. The major concern was that the bridge was so low to the water that barges going through may hit the pilings again. $40,000 was estimated to be the cost of a new bridge. But in October of 1928, Florida Power & Light was busy putting in new electrical poles on either side of the bridge and overestimated how much charge they would need. Three sticks of dynamite ended up causing severe damage to the structure. All bids to build a new bridge were rejected. Eventually in January of 1929, the contract was given to M. F. Cromer of Miami at $55,000. The company used American Bascule Bridge Co. of Pensacola to head the new bridge construction project. In 1948, the bridge met tragedy again when one end of the bridge gave way and sank into the waterway. Hobe Sound’s current bascule bridge was completed in 1985.
The North end of Jupiter Island, where this bridge sits today, is one of the most unique parcels of land in the state. Hobe Sound Land Co. had some land left after much of their land was sold off post-WWII. Much of the remaining land was to be dedicated to green space so that is would be excluded from future development in perpetuity. Joseph V. Reed began with his favorite parcel: the wilderness beach north to Peck’s Lake. Escubio Gomez (of the Gomez Grant) never owned the northern 2 miles of Jupiter Island. In 1964, this northern area became a perpetual wildlife sanctuary. By 1967, it became a Registered Natural Landmark, the first site to be designated so in the State of Florida. If you’re ever in Hobe Sound, take the little journey across the Hobe Sound bridge and enjoy a walk on the beach in the Nathanial Reed National Wildlife Sanctuary.
Comments