Excerpt:
The first covered bridge in America crossed the Schuylkill at High Street, now Market Street -- a familiar enough spot to generations of Drexel and Penn students and faculty! It replaced a pontoon bridge, and for that reason it was called The Permanent Bridge. It was not originally planned as a wooden or covered bridge, but rather as a stone bridge. The abutments and piers had been begun in 1800 and were complete in 1804, when the decision was made to complete the Permanent Bridge as a wooden bridge. For this purpose, Thomas Palmer, a bridge architect, was brought from New England. Palmer's bridge was braced with three arches and multiple kingposts. The suggestion that it be covered came from Judge Richard Peters, president of the Permanent Bridge Company. Palmer supported it, expecting the bridge to last thirty, and perhaps even forty years, if covered. Owen Biddle, a Philadelphia architect and builder, did the woodwork and ornamentation that were to make the bridge a memorable Philadelphia landmark.