·萬(wàn)國(guó)橋

“橋梁津渡皆王政攸關(guān)，窯灶井泉皆民居攸關(guān)，不可忽也?！边@是康熙《天津衛(wèi)志》的話。從古至今，都重視橋梁和渡口的建設(shè)。天津多水、多河，自然就多津渡、多橋梁。但是天津的橋不像江南的小橋流水，石橋永固。而是隨著城市的發(fā)展，不斷變遷，一般走過(guò)了從渡口到浮橋，從鐵橋到鋼筋混凝土橋的歷史。展現(xiàn)了一批名渡和名橋的風(fēng)采。
萬(wàn)國(guó)橋，就是位于海河中游老龍頭車(chē)站(現(xiàn)天津火車(chē)站)附近的一座名橋。它南接解放北路，北連老龍頭火車(chē)站，為海河兩岸重要的交通樞紐。明代，此處為天津6大渡口之一； 清乾隆年間修了浮橋，稱(chēng)為老龍頭浮橋。
光緒二十八年(1902)十二月，建成老龍頭鐵橋。因?yàn)闃虻挠野妒欠ㄗ饨?，所以是法?guó)要求清政府修建的。橋?yàn)?孔，寬8.4米。橋右岸的解放北路，發(fā)展成金融街，商貿(mào)金融業(yè)發(fā)達(dá)，交通繁盛； 而該橋狹窄，流量極其擁擠，所以在其上游不遠(yuǎn)處，籌建新橋。老橋于1927年拆除。
1927年10月18日，新橋落成，稱(chēng)為萬(wàn)國(guó)橋。由法租界工部局主持修建，因此俗稱(chēng)法國(guó)橋。海河工程局曾在審標(biāo)時(shí)參與意見(jiàn)。橋長(zhǎng)97.64米，分為3孔，中孔46.94米，兩邊孔各24米多。橋?qū)挘褐锌?9.29米，兩邊跨度各20.78米。限載20噸。該橋上部結(jié)構(gòu)為鋼桁架及縱橫梁組成的橋面系，下部墩臺(tái)為鋼筋混凝土結(jié)構(gòu)。中孔可以開(kāi)啟，為雙葉立轉(zhuǎn)式開(kāi)啟橋。是舊時(shí)海河上4大開(kāi)啟橋之一(另3座是金華橋、金鋼橋、金湯橋)。1946年，萬(wàn)國(guó)橋改稱(chēng)中正橋。1949年1月25日，改名為解放橋。它是天津市最大的開(kāi)啟橋，并且是舊鋼橋中現(xiàn)今尚可開(kāi)啟的橋。
Record of Tianjin compiled and published by Kangxi`sorder says,"Bridges and ports were critical to the royalgovernment,while houses,wells and springs werecritical to the ordinary people." This means bridges andports had been paid due emphasis from the early on.There were many rivers and plenty of water resource inTianjin,therefore there were a great number of bridges and ports. However,bridges in Tianjin went throughlots of changes in history,not like the stone bridges insouth China. With the development of Tianjin,bridgesin Tianjin transits from ferry,float bridge,iron bridge toreinforce concrete bridge. Many of them were famous inthe bridge history.
The Wanguo Bridge was one of them. It wasa famous bridge in the middle of Haihe River nearLaolongtou Station (now Tianjin Station). As a criticaltransportation means for the two sides of Haihe River,itconnects Jiefangbei Road in the south and LaolongtouStation in the north. It had been one of the six biggestports in Ming Dynasty. A float bridge had been built inyears of Emperor Qianlong,called the Laolongtou FloatBridge.
In December 1902 (the 28th year of EmperorGuangxu),the Laolongtou Iron Bridge was built underthe request of the French concession which was locatedat the right end of the bridge. The bridge was 8.4 meterswide and had four holes. Jiefangbei Road to the right ofthe bridge developed into the financial street later withadvanced trade,commerce and financial industries. Thebridge thus got very crowded,and it was removed in1927. A new bridge was built not far from it in its upperstream.
In 1927 a new bridge was completed,calledWanguo Bridge. Because it was built under thesupervision of the Industry Department of France,it wasalso called French Bridge. The Haihe River EngineeringBureau had taken part in censoring the bid for thisbridge. The bridge was 97.64 meters long and had threeholes. The diameter of the middle hole was 46.94 metersand that of the other two holes was 24.23 meters. Thebridge was 19.29 meters wide in the middle and 20.78meters wide in the two ends. It can bear a limited loadof 20 tons. Its middle hole can be locked/unlocked. Itwas one of the four bridges that can be locked/unlockedin Haihe River (the other three was Jinhua Bridge,Jingang Bridge and Jintang Bridge). It was renamedas Zhongzheng Bridge in 1946 and Jiefang (liberation)Bridge in January 25,1949.It was the biggest and theonly old steel bridge that can still be locked/unlocked inTianjin.

·萬(wàn)國(guó)橋開(kāi)啟