| THE STATE IN THE MARYLAND ECONOMY, 1776-1807 131
had been completed at a cost of $85,000 of which $47,000 had
been subscribed by stockholders and the rest by a loan. Diffi-
culties in paying the principal of this loan had probably de-
pleted funds for maintenance of the bridge because in 1804
the high wooden arch of the bridge fell into the Potomac. The
bridge was rebuilt in 1806.194 The Eastern Branch Bridge
(where the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge now is) over the Ana-
costia River opened in 1804, and in 1806 the Anacostia or Up-
per Bridge was finished.l"
The Water Street Bridge Company of Baltimore, chartered
in 1796 with a capital of $10,000, was to make a " good stone
or brick bridge over Jone's Falls in Baltimore-town." The com-
pany tore down an old bridge on the site and erected a satis-
factory one.l6 It is not known whether the toll bridges over
the Gunpowder, Patapsco, and Chester Rivers were ever fin-
ished. Each of the three had a charter resembling the other
Maryland toll bridges. 197
The first businesses in Maryland to take advantage of cor-
porate privileges were the navigation companies. As most of
these projects involved interstate co-operation, they were espe-
cially important. And since Maryland and its neighboring
states found it difficult to co-operate on issues involving bi-state
waterways, Maryland seemed to prefer entrusting construction
to a private corporation composed of stockholders of each state
rather than to a bi- or tri-state public board commission. Be-
cause the projects were of more than local benefit or interest,
the privileges granted to these companies were more liberal
than to other transportation projects.
In the field of land transportation improvements, construc-
tion alternated between public and private bodies according
to which, at the particular time the improvement was under
consideration, was thought to have the greatest possibility of
1$' Davis, 11, 214. It is interesting to note that the only case concerning
a
Maryland corporation up to the year 1807 involved the Georgetown Bridge
Company. In McDonough vs. Templeman, 1801, Reports of Cases Argued and
Determined in the General Court and Court of Appeals of the State of Mary-
land from 1800 to 1805. Thomas Harris and Reverdy Johnson, compilers (An-
naPolis, 1821) , 1, 156-63, the court ruled that an agent of a company in
con-
tracting for some slaves did not make himself personally liable.
lss Davis, 214-15.
;9e Md. Sess., 1796 c. 56, Davis 11, 215.
`s° Md. Sess, 1801 c. 23; 1803 c. 103; 1804 c. 68.
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