of the firm of Jardine, Matheson, and American Edward R. Cunningham (1823–1889), the "brilliant though somewhat impetuous" managing director of Russell & Co., Vice-Consul for the United States (1853) and also consul of the Consul of Sweden and Norway in Shanghai, with the finances provided by a consortium of twenty investors, called the Soochow Creek Bridge Company, the first company in China focusing mainly on bridge construction, constructed the first foreign bridge across the Suzhou Creek, at the location of the outermost ferry crossing to ease traffic between the British Settlement to the south, and the American Settlement to the north of Suzhou River. Built to replace a Chinese bridge that had collapsed in 1855, and "that the Chinese were unable to reconstruct", this new bridge, which soon became known as Wills' Bridge, was made entirely of wood, and "had a total length of 137.16 metres (450 feet) and width of 7.01 metres (23 feet)". It had a "draw" on the Hongkou side to allow larger boats to enter or exit Suzou Creek. According to Francis Pott, it was "not a very sightly structure."