This bridge is the last of 16 similar footbridges that formerly crossed the Delaware River [5] and measures a total of 770 feet (230 m) long.

Records show that the Hibblertown Hotel, which is the present-day Ackerson house on State Street, the Dill's Tavern, which was later torn down, and the What Cheer Inn, which is present-day Duckloe Showroom at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Main Street, all prospered because of loggers.

As a result of increased population, the business community expanded to serve the needs of the village.

The population of the Portland community has remained stable during most of the past one hundred years.

Since the business community exists essentially to serve the townspeople, it too has remained constant.

The number of businesses has not varied, but the types have changed to keep pace with modern times.

At first only the Indians skimmed their canoes over its surface, but by the mid-18th century, rafts were in use during spring floods.

Records indicate that Francis Myerhoff, owner of the Columbia Glass Works, received a charter from the State of New Jersey to build a bridge across the river to help in the delivery of the sand he needed for his factory in New Jersey.

According to an Easton paper of January 19, 1869, Mrs. Sophia Sandt rode from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and back again in her sleigh "amidst the applause of the people."

It served the Portland area continuously except for a period during 1932 when it closed its doors under the pressure of the Great Depression.

Early in the afternoon of that Friday, the center of the bridge gave way to the relentless pounding of the highest water ever recorded on the Delaware River, and all but the section closest to the New Jersey side floated down the river.

Thus came to an end what was at the time the longest covered wooden bridge in the United States, and the last one spanning the Delaware River.