One of those residents, Sharon Houser, compared the community to a Tiffany box, something that’s considered small, but has a big value.

“That’s what English Center is. We’re small, but we have big value and we have a big heart and we have community,” Houser said.

She pointed out that often on weekends, people will visit the area to see the bridge.

“It does have nationwide interest. I believe I’m right in saying that we are one of a kind,” she said.

KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette People make their way across the historic English Center bridge to take part in the first community walk across the newly restored bridge on Wednesday morning.

Built by Dean & Westbrook of New York City, the bridge spans 300 feet and is known as the only surviving hybrid suspension truss bridge of its kind in the country.

It is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

Three years ago, the state’s Department of Transportation, PennDOT announced a $12 million rehabilitation project on the bridge, which is the only one like it in the state, according to Heather Gerling, architectural historian for PennDOT.

“We disassembled the entire bridge and we refabricated some parts of it, but we also rehabbed some parts of it, and then we put it all back together,” Gerling said.

Gerling said that it took a group effort to complete the task with design engineers and a construction crew that was familiar with historic bridge construction utilizing their knowledge of historic steel structures working on the project.

Some of the parts of the bridge are original and have been rehabbed while others are refabricated.

“The towers are original. The columns are all original and then the eye bars at the top-there’s two original in each kind of span as you go across,” Gerling pointed out.

The bridge, which is commonly called the Lower Bridge — its companion Upper Bridge having been torn down in 1932 — had weathered over 130 years of hurricanes and floods before PennDOT decided it needed some help.

Residents of the English Center were very happy that the bridge was being given some attention, although at the time, they weren’t especially happy that their community center had to be torn down in order to make way for the rehabbed structure.

Today, a new community center, ready for interior finishing, sits in the community and a refurbished bridge is open to traffic.

“This was an effort by PennDOT, the State Historic Preservation Office, and the local community out here that really wanted to see this rehabbed and stay on the landscape,” Gerling said.

“It was a group effort, and it was done very well. Everyone worked very well together, and I think it’s a very good result. I hope everyone gets to enjoy it for the next 130 plus years, and yeah, it just.. it looks great out here on the landscape. I’m very pleased with how it’s turned out,” Gerling added.

“From an old history to a new history,” proclaimed Betty Frey as she stepped off the bridge.

A resident of the English Center for six years, Frey calls the community a “small piece of heaven.”

Her positivity poured over into her praise for the work done on the antique bridge.

“I think something of this nature should be preserved,” Frey said.

“I’m really thankful that it was taken care of and that they brought it back. I think it looks glorious,” she added.

For Carol Evans, who has lived at English Center for 33 years and whose family in fact were part of the group that founded the community.

“They were like Revolutionary War soldiers and they got land grants and came this way,” Evans said.

And she was really excited about the work that had been done on the Lower Bridge.

“People that know bridges and engineering know this is a really unique structure. People from all over the country are amazed to see this because they don’t exist anymore,” Evans said.

“Tropical Storm Debby really affected us greatly and you know we’re still trying to come back from that. I think this is a real ego boost for everybody to see something actually happen because you feel neglected sometimes. It’s a small community and I think it’s really going to be a real catalyst going forward,” she said.

According to Gerling, the project was fairly without problems, other than what she called the “typical kind of construction site problems” such as fabrications running behind, but no unexpected catastrophic problems arose.

Although she said that it was a “pretty usual bridge rehabilitation project,” she admitted that it was “not something that I would ever deal with in a career again.”