Early History
Originally known as the Norfolk-Portsmouth Bridge, the bridge was planned and financing organized by South Norfolk businessman Carl M. Jordan, who operated Jordan Brothers Lumber Co. with his brother Wallace. The Jordan brothers brought lumber from the Great Dismal Swamp to their lumber mill in South Norfolk, and had come to believe that the existing Norfolk County Ferry Service was not dependable enough for the needs of their business, or others in the community.
It was a Waddell & Harrington-type vertical-lift drawbridge and was designed by Harrington, Howard, & Ash (engineers) of Kansas City, Missouri. It was completed at a cost of $1.25 million, and opened on August 24, 1928, as a toll bridge with a ceremony attended by Virginia's Governor Harry F. Byrd.
Many years later, the bridge was renamed for Carl Jordan, who had also served as general manager and executive vice president of the South Norfolk Bridge Commission, Inc., a non-profit corporation organized in 1944 to manage the bridge. Ownership of the bridge was transferred to the City of Chesapeake after the Bridge Commission's indebtedness was finally satisfied in 1977.
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