July 1, 1926: The Benjamin Franklin Bridge Opens

July 1, 1926: The Delaware River Bridge opens, connecting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey, over the river in question. For the next 3 years, it is the longest suspension bridge ever built.

The name was changed to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in 1955, named for Philadelphia's favorite son, since the Walt Whitman Bridge, to the south and also over the Delaware, had been approved.

It connects the downtowns of Pennsylvania's largest city and southern New Jersey's largest city, and carries Interstate 676 and U.S. Route 30, and the PATCO Speedline subway railroad. Because it's close to downtown, it's often used for panoramic photographs of the city.

It was preceded as a Delaware River bridge by:

* 1884: The Calhoun Street Bridge in Trenton.

* 1896: The rail-only Delair Bridge.

* 1903: The Morrisville-Trenton Railroad Bridge.

* 1913: The West Trenton Railroad Bridge.

And it has been followed by:

* 1928: The Lower Trenton Bridge, the one with the big letters on each side, reading, "TRENTON MAKES THE WORLD TAKES."

* 1929: The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge.

* 1931: The Burlington-Bristol Bridge.

* 1951: The original, now-eastward span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

* 1952: The Trenton-Morrisville Toll Bridge, U.S. Route 1.

* 1956: The Delaware River-Turnpike Toll Bridge, part of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Turnpike Extension, connecting the New Jersey Turnpike with the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

* 1957: The Walt Whitman Bridge, Interstate 76.

* 1961: The original Scudder Falls Bridge, which was eventually bannered as Interstate 95.

* 1968: The 2nd, westward span of the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

* 1974: The Commodore Barry Bridge, U.S. Route 322.

* 1976: The Betsy Ross Bridge in 1976.
* 2019: The new Scudder Falls Bridge.

UPDATE: Although not as famous as the Brooklyn Bridge in New York or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, both of which tend to get destroyed in disaster movies, the Ben Franklin Bridge was shown seriously damaged in the 2023 film Shazam: Fury of the Gods.

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July 1, 1926 was a Thursday. These baseball games were played:

* A doubleheader was split at Yankee Stadium. The New York Yankees won the opener, 3-2. Urban Shocker outpitched Walter Johnson, thanks to a bottom-of-the-9th-inning triple by Mark Koenng, scoring Earle Combs.

The Washington Senators won the nightcap, 12-5. Curly Ogden outpitched Walter Beall, and Goose Goslin hit a home run. Over the 2 games, Babe Ruth went 2-for-5 with 3 walks and an RBI; and Lou Gehrig went 1-for-7 with a home run, a walk, and an RBI.

* The New York Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers (known as the Robins while Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931), 5-3 at Ebbets Field. Frankie Frisch went 2-for-5. Zack Wheat went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

* The Boston Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Braves Field in Boston.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 10-5 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rogers Hornsby, the best 2nd baseman in the game and also the Cardinals' manager, did not put himself into the game.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 11-6 at Navin Field (later Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Tris Speaker went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, while Ty Cobb went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Each was his team's respective manager.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Hack Wilson won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

* And the St. Louis Browns beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-3 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. George Sisler hit a home run for the Browns, and Eddie Collins went 1-for-4 for the White Sox.