New-Hope Delaware Bridge Co. NJ-PA Treasury Note Proof, 1823-1824

Proof on india of note for the New-Hope Delaware Bridge Company, circa 1823-24 printed by A. B. & C. Durand & Wright. Beautiful vignettes and portraits. A unique piece of US financial history.

An enterprising young businessman named Benjamin Parry came to the New Hope area around 1781. He owned mills on both sides of the river. One of them was called Prime Hope Mills, near Lambertville. That mill burned down in 1790, and Parry built a new mill at the mouth of Ingham Creek shortly afterward, calling it New Hope Mills. The name had power, and attached itself to the town that was beginning to grow up around the ferry and the mills. His home was the Parry Mansion, which remained in the family until 1966.

Parry promoted the town like no one before him. He helped organize the New Hope Delaware Bridge Company, which built the bridge to Lambertville in 1812. It was the second bridge built across the Delaware, preceded only by the one that united Morrisville and Trenton. Parry was also a prominent figure in bringing another engineering achievement to New Hope, the Delaware Canal.

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