When the new North Bridge opened on Wednesday, 25th October 1871, the event was described as being more confusion than ceremony
Mayhall records the event as follows
A new bridge was opened at Halifax, amidst greater confusion than ceremony.The ceremony was nominally carried out by the Mayor, but the public, rejoicing in the freedom of a half-holiday, and unrestrained by any civic regulations, took the inauguration into their own hands.
The bridge was in their possession long before it was declared ready for traffic, and commodious as it is, failed to afford anything like the space necessary to give standing-room for one-third of those who were anxious to anticipate the work of the Mayor.
The structure is known as the New North Bridge. It is constructed of iron, with a width of 60 feet inside the parapets, and has a bold and handsome appearance.
It spans the Hebble Valley, connecting Northgate with New Bank and Haley Hill, the roads to Queensbury, Northowram, Bradford, and Leeds.
The total cost of the new bridge, with land and property purchased for the purpose of improving the approaches was about £10,000.
Preceding the ceremony, the Mayor and Corporation, the Borough Members, a detachment of the 2nd West Yorkshire Yeomanry, the Halifax Artillery and Rifle Volunteers, and a number of the leading inhabitants formed in procession in front of the Town Hall.
The procession started about three o'clock.
At that hour, a few policemen had with great difficulty cleared the greater part of the bridge, reserving a wide space at the south entrance, where there was a platform with a ladies' gallery behind.
An advance guard of the Yeomanry had no sooner made its way on to the bridge than the crowd followed, and the crowd had afterwards everything its own way.
It swarmed up on the platform, it mixed itself up among the civic authorities, it carried away policemen, but it was remarkably good-natured, although noisy and uncontrollable enough.
At length, about a score of Dragoons drew up at the southern entrance, and prevented further pressure upon the bridge.
The authorities carried out their programme in the face of the confusion that prevailed around them.
Room was found on or near the platform for those who were to take part in the ceremony, and for the Right Hon James Stansfeld, Lord Frederick Cavendish, Colonel Akroyd, the Mayors of Leeds, Bradford, and Wakefield, the Master Cutler of Sheffield, the Town Clerk of Leeds, and the engineer and contractor of the Bridge.
The Mayor shortly afterwards, amidst the discharge of artillery, declared the bridge open.
A banquet was held in the evening at the Town Hall
Page Ref: N31_1
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