The post last week on the history (and future) of the Mayo Bridge was a big hit; so this week we will look at the Boulevard Bridge (aka the Nickel Bridge) after reading an article in the Times-Dispatch that was followed by a photo collage of old photos from the bridge’s history.
The photo array dates back to an article the paper ran in 2020 but the photos are so vintage and the story of the bridge is almost as endearing as the Mayo’s long history.
At the time, there was no bridge west of Boulevard until you got to the old Westham Bridge (just west of the current Huguenot Bridge, originally built in 1949) and east of Boulevard, the Lee Bridge would not be built until 1934 (also as a toll bridge).
The Boulevard Bridge was built in 1925 and cost $275,000 to build (about $4.9 million in today’s money) but, contrary to local lore, the “Nickel Bridge” actually should have been named the “Dime Bridge.”
According to a 2012 article in Richmond Magazine by local historian extraordinaire Harry Kollatz, the initial bridge toll was not a nickel but a dime (or about $1.79 in today’s money); the toll was only five cents for walkers and cyclists. One-horse and two-horse vehicles cost 25 cents and four-horse vehicles cost 50 cents each way.
City Council had the option to buy the bridge within five years at cost but passed on the option. Between 1939 and 1959, some members of Council pushed five different times to purchase the structure that was earning a 82% rate of return on the depreciated original cost, but every attempt was shot down (insert your own joke here).
An advertisement in the December 31, 1924 edition of the Times-Dispatch offered a badge you could purchase for your car for $10 ($179 in today’s money) that allowed unlimited crossings for all of 1925 and also said 10 year passes would be given to Westover Hills residents. New homes in that area were going for $10,000 to $14,500 (about $179,000 to $259,000 in today’s money).
The bridge opened on January 2, 1925 and was free for several days as thousands turned out to cross the bridge to try it out and take in the view. The RTD reported:Hundreds of automobiles, from the flivver to the more pretentious high-powered car, crossed the bridge during the day. At times there were so many of the gasoline-propelled cars on the structure that progress was made only at a snail’s pace.
Decades later, local resident Alvin Hammer who lived on Semmes Avenue used the bridge frequently to get to his job at the Richmond Dairy in Jackson Ward; he thought the toll was excessive and in 1957 asked the State Corporation Commission (SCC) to investigate the matter. Hammer asked for a “just and reasonable” readjustment of the toll and a separate petition filed with the court asked for the elimination of the toll because the bridge had been paid off by the corporation that owned it.
The SCC then recommended a toll of 3 cents, but one SCC Commissioner thought five cents was better because it would be easier and faster to pay and without having to dig for pennies or having to make change. The five cent toll for which the bridge earned its moniker was actually instituted in July 1957, 32 years after it opened. Even at the reduced rate, the bridge income netted $37,000 ($663,000 today). And in 1959, the company that owned the bridge invalidated the free passes that had been given to residents of Westover Hills.
But by this time, it was taking far too long to cross the bridge during peak times. An August 1959 article noted that a new toll collection system was installed to quicken the pace of crossing during rush hours, which were taking approximately five minutes and fifteen seconds. The placement of toll gates at the north end of the bridge in Byrd Park would expand collection capacity and reduce the wait to about 80 seconds, they promised.
In 1969 as the city began planning the Downtown Expressway and Powhite Parkway and formed the Richmond Metropolitan Authority (now called the RMTA) to run them, and they paid $1.2 million for the bridge ($10.2 million today). The toll was increased back to a dime in 1973 and they also installed the first lift gates to stem losses from toll runners.
But the bridge not only offered a great view of the river both east and west but also had its own personality. Kollatz wrote:
A quirk of the bridge’s personality is its toll takers. During the late 1970s, George B. Stafford and William Howard handed out lollipops and butterscotch to children riding in the cars. Their largesse was the subject of a 1988 United Press International story that spread to USA Today, Newsweek and television. Stafford, a 76-year-old grandfather of three, in one reporter’s estimation gave “3,000 pounds of candy and hundreds of thousands of smiles.” Then the RMA passed down a memo to dissuade the practice. “I’ve been doing it for 10 years, and all at once they want me to stop,” Stafford told the Times-Dispatch.
By 1988, the toll increased to 20 cents and in 1992 it was closed for 18 months to replace the bridge deck and a safer and separated pedestrian walkway and new toll facility. The toll rose to a quarter by the late 1990’s and today costs 35 cents to cross.
Read more from Jon Baliles and his RVA 5×5 Substck HERE
Main image: Viewing northward, this image captures the Boulevard Bridge, which was inaugurated in 1925. Image provided by the Valentine Richmond History Center.
