By Jean-Marie Dubois (Université de Sherbrooke) and Gérard Coté (Lennoxville-Ascot Historical and Museum Society)
Before the building of a first bridge over the Saint-François River, just upstream from where the Massawippi River flows into it, Mr. Guy Carleton Blodgett ran a ferry between Lennoxville and Moulton Hill. A The first wooden bridge was built in 1846 to link the present St. Francis and College Streets on either side of the Saint-François (St. Francis) River. Because the bridge was often damaged by floods, a second bridge was built in 1858 by contractor James A. Gordon at a cost of 500 pounds sterling.
This time, it was a covered bridge and was said to have been 500 feet long. It was called the St. Francis Bridge. It was also known as the Long Bridge, because it was longer than the bridge over the Massawippi River, West of Bishop’s College. Because it often required repairs, the present 390 feet long steel bridge was built in 1938 by MacKinnon Steel at a cost of 90 000 $. From then on, the name St. Francis Bridge prevailed.
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