Over the River: King & President

by Greg Kelly · Published October 25, 2025 · Updated October 25, 2025

The new Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge — opened in July 2025 — is the sixth connection between two distinctive boroughs over the past 150 years. Hardesty & Hanover designed the latest Shrewsbury River overpass; R.E. Pierson Construction Company built it. The project cost $135+ million — nearly all paid for by the federal government. Regrettably, the new drawbridge will continue to open for marine traffic.

FDR

Over the period of about two months in 1939 — in furtherance of the 20^th Century’s “Great Atlantic Alliance” — both a British King and an American President made crossings here. That’s two bridges ago.

In June 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth became the first ever ruling British monarchs to visit the USA. All planned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Royal couple came to the Jersey Shore during the historic North American goodwill tour. After visiting Canada and NYC, they traveled by railroad to Red Bank, by auto over the bridge into Sea Bright and then to Sandy Hook to aboard a destroyer destined for the Roosevelt’s Hyde Park estate.

All through Red Bank, Little Silver, Fair Haven, Rumson and Sea Bright, an estimated 200,000+ residents packed the roadways to honor and welcome UK royally.

In August 1939, FDR — in the midst of fishing trip in Canada — was quickly dispatched to Fort Hancock via the USS Lang. From Sandy Hook a motorcade took the President to the Red Bank train station and on to Washington, DC. Legend is the President was shaken upon arrival after learning of the infamous Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact — sometimes called “the kick-off to World War II.” From Sandy Hook, FDR took the same path the King and Queen had taken in June, but in reverse.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, 1940s

In Sea Bright, hundreds of residents led by Mayor Walter Sweeney cheered for FDR as he passed (escorted by 12 state police motorcycles). The President carried New Jersey in all four of his US presidential races (1932-1944).

FDR and the King would develop a strong and warm personal relationship helping to cement the Anglo-American alliance and later bring victory in WWII. This bond between the leaders was built on mutual respect and shared personal challenges (FDR’s polio as young man put him in a wheelchair for life; the King overcame a serious speech impediment).

The bridge these world leaders — and WWII stalwarts — traversed was built in June 1901. The steel, steam-powered, swing-bridge was built by the American Bridge Company. At 660-foot-long, the cost was $65,000. That bridge was replaced with a double-leaf bascule bridge in February 1951. It cost $1.5 million; Morris Goodkind was designer and Ole Hansen & Sons was builder. According to a 1950 dedication plaque, the bridge was officially the “Shrewsbury River Bridge.”