Monday, September 26, 2011

Gilmerton Bridge


A page from Amerigo Vespucci's playbook


Matt Yeager
Wallace Room Volunteer

Who was Henry G. Gilmerton and why was the Gilmerton Bridge named after him?

-- This question has come up twice in the last six months so it begs setting the record straight.–The correct name of the bridge that crosses the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River on South Military Hwy is the Gilmerton Bridge and not the Henry G. Gilmerton Bridge as it is currently listed on some maps.  The Gilmerton Bridge, completed in 1938, was named after the area it is located near - what was then the town of Gilmerton, now a community in the City of Chesapeake.

History - The town of Gilmerton was named after Thomas Walker Gilmer, 22nd Governor of Virginia, who was born in 1802, near Charlottesville at the “Gilmerton” homestead - not to be confused with the village of Gilmerton in Norfolk County, Virginia.  Governor Gilmer actually visited the area in 1840 while the Gilmerton Cut and Gilmerton locks were under construction.

The following is a quote from the February 1938 Virginia Highway Bulletin - "On Route 299 there is being constructed a bridge over the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River, known locally as the Gilmerton Bridge." -  Note - Route 299 is now that section of Route 13/South Military Hwy that runs from Route 58 to Bainbridge Blvd in Chesapeake, VA. –

(The Virginia Highway Bulletins were monthly news bulletins that exchanged information among the 8 highway construction districts in Virginia.)

So now you are probably looking in your ADC map book or at some other map and you see the name Henry G. Gilmerton Bridge where the Gilmerton Bridge is located.  It is listed that way, too, in my ADC Hampton Roads map book (21st edition).  If you go to earlier editions of the ADC map book (such as the 18th), the bridge is referred to correctly as simply the Gilmerton Bridge.

I can assure you that Henry G. Gilmerton is as real as the Easter Bunny. -- But, where did the name Henry G. Gilmerton come from?  My conclusion is that someone merged the name of the Gilmerton Bridge with a real person by the name of Henry G. Gilmer and came up with the name Henry G. Gilmerton and the maps started listing the bridge with that name.

More History - Prior to the existing Campostella Bridge that currently crosses the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River there was an earlier Campostella Bridge, a draw bridge that was completed in 1935. Although that bridge was commonly known as the Campostella Bridge, its official name was the Henry G. Gilmer Bridge.  Mr. Henry G. Gilmer in the early 1930's was a member of the State Highway Commission from the Bristol District, and was instrumental in getting $400,000 of Federal Highway funds toward the needed $535,000 to construct that bridge in 1935.  For his efforts they named the Campostella Bridge The Henry G. Gilmer Bridge.