DECEMBER , 2004

In our on-going quest to document and help preserve old relics of the King Bridge Company’s six decades of bridge building, 2004 was an excellent year. There were a number of important preservation completions, along with new sightings and other happenings that we learned about thanks to those of you who visited the King Bridge Company Museum website and contacted us. As a result, we can now account for over 75 King bridges that are still standing, many of them built before 1900. The company claims to have built 10,000 bridges in the period before the turn of the century, so the 75+ existing bridges would represent less than one percent of their total production, but still not bad.

PRESERVATION EFFORTS

Two bridge preservation projects were completed for which we are delighted that our family Charitable Gift Fund had provided some assistance: the Beech Road Bowstring in Newfield, New York and the relocation of the Mill Creek Bridge in Ashtabula County, Ohio. These bridges are now open for walkers and bikers. We also we made additional grants in 2004 to the Grasse River Heritage Area Development Corporation for continuing help with the restoration of the King bowstring in Canton New York and to the Friends of Historic Northport, Alabama for the relocation and restoration of the 1882 Black Warrior bowstring. Check the PRESERVATION section of the website for the latest updates. We also provided additional funding to the Special Collections Library of Cleveland State University for the publication of a brochure on historic Cleveland bridges and to supplement the costs of publishing William Boyer’s major book on the history of Cleveland’s Veterans Memorial (Detroit-Superior) Bridge to be produced in the near future.

In other preservation news, the Hojack swing bridge in Rochester, New York, despite the work of the dedicate group of historic preservationists our fund has been supporting, has received its official death sentence from the U. S. Coast Guard, but its owner, Conrail, has not yet begun the final execution. On a more positive note, the people responsible for the successful rehabilitation of the Aldrich Change Bridge in Palmyra, New York designed by Squire Whipple are planning to focus their energy and well-earned expertise to the restoration of the King-built Town Line Bridge in nearby Arcadia. Our fund has agreed to help when the effort is organized.

NEW FINDS

Through the website, we have received information and pictures from our visitors on nine additional King bridges that should be added to the inventory in the EXISTING BRIDGES section last updated in 2003. They include a variety of bowstring, standard trusses and beam girder bridges in locations ranging from Vermont to Mexico. These include:

1. An 1892 Bowstring known as the Waverly Street Bridge in Westernport, Alleghany County, Maryland, which was listed in the State’s historic bridge inventory in 1984 (Ref: AL-V1-D-308). Thanks to B. Chute for sending us this reference with a photo on 8/9/04. This would be the second known King bowstring in Maryland, joining the Bennie’s Hill Road Bridge across Catoctin Creek in Middletown, Frederick County.

A two-span Pratt Through Truss with a King Bridge Company plate on the crossbeam at Wellsbridge in Unadilla, New York. Jim Stewart, our most loyal pontist and old bridge finder, furnished the pictures. They show that the structure is closed to traffic, but still appears to be in reasonable condition.

3. A small Pony Truss with a King Bridge plate on the end post dated 1880 and still carrying traffic. It is also in Unadilla, New York. Jim Stewart also provided the pictures.

An 1896 Warren Through Truss in Seminole County, Oklahoma near Maud on State Route 9A. It was once a railroad bridge that was apparently moved and converted in 1947. Thanks to Wes Kinsler for the information and check out the pictures on the hyperlink to his website under EXISTING BRIDGES OKLAHOMA.

A 1906 Through Truss railroad bridge now converted for vehicular traffic on Erath County Road 270 across Greens Creek near Clariette in North Central Texas. Stephen Taylor who furnished the great pictures discovered this bridge. It has a King Bridge Company plate.

Another Through Truss railroad bridge on the same road as the one above crossing the North Fork of the Bosque River near Hico, also discovered by Steven Taylor, who thinks both bridges were originally built for the Texas Central Railroad but the tracks were abandoned about 1967. There is no plate on the second one. Look for Stephen’s pictures of both bridges under EXISTING BRIDGES – TEXAS – CLAIRETTE.

A 1902 Beam Girder railroad bridge in Great Falls, Montana running along side the Missouri River. Marlowe Rames, who furnished the pictures of the structure and the King Bridge Company plate, discovered it. This joins one other King bridge known to exist in the state, the up-side-down Pratt Truss across the Dearborn River just recently rehabilitated by the Montana Department of Transportation. Check out EXISTING BRIDGES – MONTANA for pictures of both.

An 1898 Through Truss bridge with a King Bridge Company plate in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico near the town of Guelatao. It crosses the Rio de la Sierra and was discovered by Victoria McMackin and her sister on a trip to the mountains in southern Mexico. Apparently the locals say “a big machine” brought in the bridge. We are awaiting more pictures and will try to get more information on how a King bridge ended up in southern Mexico. Any theories?

Finally, the Zenas King Memorial Bridge in Granville, Vermont, located in the village where Zenas was born in 1818. It is a beam girder bridge that was given to the village in 1908 by Harry Wheelock King, Zenas’s youngest son. It crosses the White River and is located on the property of the Granville Manufacturing Company. Professor Robert McCoullogh of the University of Vermont first brought this bridge to our attention and we had a chance to visit it and take pictures this summer.

We also received new pictures and up-dated information on two other King bridges that are listed in our 2003 inventory: the 1874 Bowstring across Cadron Creek in Faulkner County, Arkansas, which has been documented both in the HAER inventory and in Donald Jackson’s book on Great American Bridges and Dams. . Wayne Kizzlar furnished the new pictures of this reportedly “oldest bridge in Arkansas” (See item # 7 in our inventory). The other is the Through Truss bridge in Marion, Virginia, (item # 35 in our inventory), for which Scott Wilson furnished new pictures of this still used bridge known locally as “Happy’s Bridge”.

We thank all our visitors for their contributions and hope to have more in the future.