Newport is a premier destination, but getting to the city has not always been easy. For three centuries, ferries crossed Narragansett Bay's East Passage. That all changed on June 28, 1969, the day the Newport Bridge opened, and it closed the last remaining gap between Aquidneck and Conanicut Islands. Proponents of the bridge persevered political squabbles and delays for twenty-five years following World War II to make it a reality. The longest suspension bridge in the region incorporated several new technologies and construction techniques and changed the face of Rhode Island. Author James Ricci details the trials and tribulations that produced an iconic bridge.

Opened on Wednesday 28th February 1934 by the Duke of York, the Tees (Newport) Bridge was dubbed the ‘Tees Wonder Bridge’ by the press and celebrated as the largest vertical-lift bridge of its type in the world. Constructed by Middlesbrough-based Dorman Long, the famed bridge builders responsible for global icons such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge, the colossal Teesside landmark has played a vital part in the history of the region for over 90 years. The Tees Newport Bridge: The Untold Story of a Steel River Landmark by Tosh Warwick features dozens of previously unpublished construction and opening ceremony photographs as the fascinating history of the Grade II listed structure is revealed. The transformative role played by the bridge, tales of triumphs and tragedies, and dozens of memories are accompanied by artwork and a range of facts, figures and plans as this remarkable example of British engineering and local legacy of Dorman Long is celebrated.

"Newport, Rhode Island has been a city of innovation since its beginning nearly four centuries ago. Some of the claims on a national level are true, while some have been greatly distorted over the years. The freethinking citizens include the first to defeat a British squadron and the author of the first written constitution guaranteeing the right to religious freedom in world history. The first law banning the importation of Negroes in the colonies was enacted in the city, and the first Methodist church in the world with a steeple and bell is located here. But was the first female lighthouse keeper in America from here? Was Newport the first place where a medical lecture was given? Author and research historian Brian M. Stinson offers a chronological collection of vignettes detailing the city's many firsts." --

Includes the Report of the Mississippi River Commission, 1881-19 .