This bridge, constructed in 1877, was the seventh one to span the Connecticut River at Sunderland, Massachusetts. The six previous bridges were built and financed by groups of private investors who charged tolls to maintain the bridges. Unlike its wooden predecessors, this steel girder bridge was financed by Sunderland, Deerfield, and Whately, as well as by Franklin County. The bridge pictured here stood until the devastating flood of 1936, when the Montague City bridge tore loose and floated downstream, crashing into and destroying the Sunderland bridge.