Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/567

 CENTRAL BRIDGE. 461 meet the expenses of the repairs and later $12 a share was assessed for the same purpose. In 1825 the treasurer, Samuel Martin, died and his widow was elected treasurer, who held the office till 1830, when James Eowen was elected. In 1831 Capt. James Bowen bought 52 shares of the stock of the Bridge Corporation, and the corporation came into control of Captain Bowen and his family. At the time of building the two bridges, separate tolls were collected at each, but when the properties came into the ownership of the two families, the Bowens and the Kelleys, an arrangement was made to collect the tolls at only one of the bridges and to divide the proceeds equally. This arrangement continued until 1872, when the state appropriated $6,000 to purchase the two bridges, and make them free to all travel, the care of the bridges thereafter to be assumed by the three towns, Bristol, Warren, and Bar- rington. In 1894, two hundred and thirty years after the founding of the town, an important work was accomplished, which, had it been done in the earlier days, would have changed the history of the town in the development of the central section. For many years, possibly a century, the great need of a bridge across the Barrington River, above the Congregational Meeting House, had been felt and discussed by the people in town meeting and in private circles. As a result of peti- tions circulated through the town in favor of such a bridge, and presented to the General Assembly, an act was passed at the January session, 1877, authorizing the town to build a bridge at some point, to be selected, above the meetinghouse, subject to the approval of the Harbor Commissioners of the State. This permissive act prepared the way for the action of the town at the annual town meeting, in April, 1894, when it was voted to instruct the Town Council to appoint a commit- tee to procure plans and estimates for a bridge over Barring- ton River, at or near the Congregational Meeting House. At a special town meeting, held in the Town Hall on Satur-