Pay a Toll to Cross The Grand River? You Did in the Good Old Days!

Did you know that at once a long time ago, Grand Rapids had covered bridges over the Grand River? Yes, they were cool, covered and an easy way to cross the Grand River. But guess what? You had to pay a bridge toll just to cross the Grand River.

Grand Rapids is divided by the Grand River, and in the way back days of the 1800s they built covered bridges to cross the river.

👇 BELOW: DISCOVER THESE ABANDONED BRIDGES IN MICHIGAN 👇

There weren't any cars, only horses pulling carts, wagons, buggies, and the like. So if you wanted to cross the Grand, you could cross the river by canoe, or a small boat, but wasn't exactly too safe.

So, private contractors built covered bridges and started to charge to get to each side. I don't know what it cost back then but let's say it cost a dime, ten cents to cross. That would be at least six to seven dollars today just to cross the river. Ouch!

The private companies built  three covered bridges, on Bridge Street, Pearl Street and Leonard. And if you wanted to get to the other side, you had to pay up or just stare across the river and wish you were there.

The Historical Marker Database writes that when the railroads arrived in the late 1850s,  something had to be done so more bridges were built just to handle the trains.

By the 1880s, I'm pretty sure people were fed up with having to pay just to cross the river, the city of Grand Rapids took over building new bridges and you could cross free of charge. What a concept.

What would a toll be like today? I don't even want to think about that!