I Have a Friend Across the Bridge Quiz

Answer: Delaware

New Castle is on one side of the Delaware Memorial Bridge (the other end is in Pennsville Township, NJ). It's older than Philadelphia, having been founded as Fort Casimir by the Dutch in 1651. The English renamed the town New Castle in 1664 and control switched between the two nations a few times before it was given to William Penn in 1680 along with the rest of Pennsylvania. Delaware became a separate colony in 1704.

New Castle is a small (2020 population 5551) municipality ten miles south of Wilmington with a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. "Beloved" (1998) and "Dead Poets Society" (1987) were partially filmed in New Castle.

Answer: Delaware

They're spelled the same but pronounced differently - Newark, Delaware is pronounced new-ARK while the city in New Jersey is pronounced new-URK. The Delaware town, located in New Castle County and about 12 miles from Wilmington, the state's largest city, is much smaller, with a 2020 population around 30,600. The University of Delaware, Alma mater of President Joe Biden, is located in Newark. From 1951 until 2008, the city had a Chrysler plant where reggae star Bob Marley briefly worked in the 1960s.

Newark is not on a river and does not have any bridges.

Answer: Pennsylvania

Bala Cynwyd (pronounced BA-la KIN-wood) was settled in the 1680s as part of the Welsh Tract near Philadelphia. It is part of Lower Merion Township and contains the studios of several Philadelphia area radio stations. Bala Cynwyd is also home of TV station WPVI and, until it moved to the Comcast Technology Center in 2017, TV station WCAU was across the street. Notable Bala Cynwyd residents include "The Gong Show" creator Chuck Barris and NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant. Patrick Swayze's character in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar" (1995) was from Bala Cynwyd and a scene from "Unbreakable" (2000) was filmed there.

Bala Cynwyd is west of Philadelphia so has no bridges connecting it to New Jersey. However, a highway bridge crosses Philadelphia's other river, the Schuylkill, connecting Bala Cynwyd to the Manayunk neighborhood.

Answer: Pennsylvania

Chester is a city in Delaware County, PA (not, as one would assume, in neighboring Chester County, PA). It's where William Penn first landed in Pennsylvania and is the oldest city in the state, incorporated earlier in 1682 than Philadelphia. The city was a business and manufacturing hub in the early 20th Century and the population, fueled by immigration and the Great Migration, grew to 66,039 by 1950, but the loss of those jobs led to population loss and by 2020, the city's population had fallen to 32,605. The Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer play their home games in Chester.

Famous people connected to Chester include singer and Academy Award nominee Ethel Waters, Bill Haley who was the musical director at Chester radio station WPWA before recording "Rock Around the Clock," and Danny Murtagh who managed the 1960 and 1971 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Commodore Barry Bridge connects Chester to Bridgeport, NJ.

Answer: Pennsylvania

Bristol Township is a municipality in Bucks County, PA, northeast of Philadelphia. Originally founded in 1692 as Buckingham Township, it was renamed Bristol Township in 1702. The township's population boomed with suburbanization in the post-WWII era (Bristol is part of Levittown, PA, a census-designated place developed by Levitt & Sons) with a 1940 population of 5857 and a 1970 population of 67,498 (the 2020 population is 54,291). The 1961 song "Bristol Stomp" was about a dance step popular with Bristol teenagers.

The Burlington-Bristol Bridge connects Bristol to Burlington, NJ.

Answer: Pennsylvania

Founded in 1682, Philadelphia played a central part in the American Revolution and was the United States' first capitol. As of the 2020 census it's the 6th most populous city in the country with about 1.6 million residents. The city and county became a single entity after the Act of Consolidation of 1854 which made what had been towns in Philadelphia County (such as Germantown and Richmond) into neighborhoods of the city. Several bridges connect Philadelphia to New Jersey.

The three largest are the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (1926) in Center City, the Walt Whitman Bridge (1957) in South Philadelphia, and the Betsy Ross Bridge (1976) in Northeast Philadelphia.

The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge (1929) is also in Northeast Philadelphia.

Answer: New Jersey

Camden is a city in New Jersey and the county seat of Camden County. It was incorporated as a city in 1828, over 200 years after the Dutch built Fort Nassau on the site. Camden was a manufacturing hub during the first half of the Twentieth Century; Campbell Soup and RCA Victor were located there and the New York Shipbuilding Corporation had a major shipyard. A combination of the decline of manufacture and white flight caused the population to fall from a 1950 peak of 124,551 to the 2020 total of 71,791. Campbell Soup still has a presence in the city, and other major employers include Rutgers University and Cooper University Hospital. Notable people who've lived in Camden include Cindy Birdsong of The Supremes and LaBelle and songwriter/producer Leon Huff of Gamble and Huff.

The Benjamin Franklin Bridge connects Camden to Philadelphia.

Answer: New Jersey

Burlington, NJ, was incorporated in 1693 and in the 19th Century was a stop on the Underground Railroad. It also became a manufacturing center, particularly for shoes and carpentry. Burlington Coat Factory was founded in the city in 1924. Burlington had 9743 residents as of the 2020 census. Author James Fennimore Cooper was born in Burlington, and general and 18th US President Ulysses S. Grant lived in Burlington towards the end of the Civil War.

The Burlington-Bristol Bridge connects Burlington with Bristol Township, PA.

Answer: New Jersey

Clementon is a borough in Camden County, NJ and is about 18 miles from Philadelphia. The 2020 population was 5338 and it's the location of Clementon Park. The amusement park was founded in 1907, making it one of the oldest operating amusement parks in the country and one of the few remaining trolley parks (amusement parks built at the end of streetcar lines). Arthur Rose Eldred, the first Eagle Scout in the United States, lived in Clementon.

Clementon does not border the Delaware River and does not have any bridges.

Answer: New Jersey

Palmyra is a borough in Burlington County, NJ. Originally part of New Sweden, Palmyra was given its current name in 1849 and town planning began in 1850. Palmyra is a small community, with a 2020 population of 7438. MLB baseballs are rubbed down with a special mud taken from the Delaware River banks near Palmyra.

The Tacony-Palmyra Bridge connects Palmyra to the Tacony neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia.