If you were standing across the Schuylkill River in Norristown looking over at Bridgeport in 1828, this is what you would have seen. In the early 1700, Swedish settler Mats Holstein stretched a rope across the river, and the location 
became known as Swedes Ford. Then Holstein started a ferry service about 1760. Travelers on foot or on horseback often encountered a delay. The boat would be on the other side of the river and it was necessary to blow a horn to summon the ferryman who would be working at his farm. Travelers could find a pleasant wait at Holstein’s Swedes Ford Tavern nearby.
