2 April, 1640, the inhabitants of Charlestown voted that Philip Drinker shall keep a ferry to Malden at the neck of land with a sufficient boat. For his services he had two pence for a single person and a penny each where there were more. This was the penny ferry of the first century and a half of the colony's existence.
The route by land from Charlestown or Cambridge was by the Mystic Bridge that crossed the Mystic River at Medford, and was the successor at an early date of the bridge built at the ford near Cradock's house in Medford. The Mystic Bridge was used by the Malden farmers for their cattle, teams and horses, and they contributed for many years towards its repair.
After the completion of the Charlestown Bridge some of the gentlemen interested became identified with a project to build a bridge from Charlestown Neck to the Malden shore near Sweetser's Point. Thomas Russell, Richard Devens, Samuel Swan, Junior, Jonathan Simpson and William Tudor, were granted by the legislature this privilege, 11 March, 1787. It was built in six months and cost £ 5,300. It was opened to travel 30 September, 1787, when a single cannon was fired and the workmen regaled with refreshments, a quiet affair compared with the 17 June celebration of Charles River Bridge the year before. The bridge was two thousand four hundred feet long, including the abutments, and thirty-two feet wide; the draw was the design of Lemuel Cox, and eight lamps lighted the bridge at night.
The instant success of two ventures in bridge building made a strong impression on the flourishing merchants of Salem and Beverly, and, 13 June, 1787, a subscription was started to build a bridge between those two towns. Two hundred shares were at once subscribed for, and sixteen towns in Essex County favored
