2005 NY Update

In 1999, we wrote the article now in the history section of this website describing the status of the bridges built by the King Bridge Company in New York State known to us at that time. It was written to call attention to the King bridges still standing to aid in the process of updating the state’s inventory of historic bridges that was about to begin. In the five years since that writing, much has happened. Some of the known King bridges have been rehabilitated to insure their future. Some other old bridges built by the company have been “discovered”, at least by us, and are still in use for their original purpose. Others have found new champions willing to support their protection and rehabilitation, while at least one, the Hojack Swing Bridge in Rochester, has been given the death sentence despite the valiant efforts of some far-sighted citizens to try to save it.

New York State was one of the most important markets for the King Bridge Company during its six decades of operation from the 1860s to the early 1920s. Early in the 1870s, the company hired Mr. T.W. Twiss of Cortland as its agent. He proceeded to market King bridges to the towns and counties in the western and central parts of the State with very solid results. Later on the company opened an office on Lower Broadway in New York City and succeeded in obtaining a number of important contracts in the greater New York metropolitan region, including in Long Island and Northern New Jersey.

The remaining King bridges represent an interesting evolution in the technology and style of bridge building. As the needs of towns, counties and railroad companies, the major clients for iron and steel bridges, changed, the company had to respond both with new products and new methods of doing business. In the paragraphs below, we will show the results of current preservation efforts, some recent discoveries, and what both represent as visual and functional monuments to bridge-building art history. For the King Bridge Company Museum, New York State is one of the main exhibits.

The bowstring arch bridge, for which Zenas King had received a patent in 1865, launched the King Bridge Company as a major player in the rapidly expanding iron bridge industry. This was a solid functional design for single and multiple length spans that could be produced in a factory and shipped conveniently by rail to bridge sites where local crews could set them up in a matter of a few days. There are still at least six bowstring arch bridges built by the King Bridge Company still standing in New York State. Four of these have been maintained and recently rehabilitated for light vehicular or foot traffic, while two others have been long abandoned and currently well hidden from public view.[1] They are:

This is a magnificent three-span bridge in a spectacular location across Black Lake has been in use by local traffic for 125 years. It is one of the rare existing examples of a multi-span bowstring the Company built in many parts of the country in the 1860s and 1870s. The 2003 photo above shows the recent up-grading of the piers and abutments by the local highway department which appears intent on preserving it.

This single span bowstring across a deep ravine has been rehabilitated and rededicated in 2004 thanks to the efforts of a group of local citizens and now opened again for pedestrians to cross from one side of town to the other. Our family charitable gift fund is proud to have contributed to this successful rehabilitation effort. The Preservation section of our website under Newfield in the New York section documents the entire story. The original King patent bridge plate still exists and has been copied in a new plate on the bridge.

This is another single span bowstring built in 1877 crossing a lovely mill race near Rochester. It was rehabilitated by the Monroe County Highway Department in 2002 with the backing of local citizens and the Wilcox Family who own the adjacent old grist mill and related buildings. Now the bridge plays an important role in an historic area that is an important local attraction. The Preservation section, New York under Chili Mills has more details.

This classic bowstring has been out of use for many years but is now being rehabilitated by the Grasse River Heritage Development Corporation to provide access to a new historical park to be developed on an island in the river that once housed a number of mills and factories. This is another restoration project that our family charitable gift fund has been supporting. Details on the project and its funding can be found in the Preservation section under Canton in New York[2].

This long abandoned bowstring, barely visible behind the growth, was part of the main access to this old cemetery. It is owned by the Elmwood Cemetery Association which has recently begun to discuss plans for its rehabilitation. Our family charitable gift fund has offered help.

This bowstring appears to be a King, but not confirmed. It is located on a privately owned farmstead. While the owner would like to do something with it, there are no current plans.

By the late 1870s, the bowstring design became less popular and during 1880s, the King Bridge Company began to build more of the larger and stronger American Standard bridges, both through (Pratt) and pony trusses. Actually many if not most of the King bridges built in New York State were of this type. The Roaring Mill Bridge across the AuSable River in Essex County pictured below before it disappeared in the early 1980s is a good example[3]. King Bridges catalogues of the 1880s and 1890s pictures bridges of these truss bridges in East Branch (Delaware County) across the Delaware River, the Rorig Bridge in Westfield (Chautauqua County), in Palmyra (Wayne County), in Phoenicia (Ulster County), in Buffalo (Erie County) built for the N.Y., L&W Railway, and in other locations all over New York State as well as throughout the nation.

We could find only two remaining of this type still standing (in some form) as of the end of 1999. One of these is the 1887 pony truss bridge, once owned by Dr. Richard J. Fink of Bergen, Monroe County and now located in Woodstock, Ulster County where it was donated by our family to the Woodstock Land Conservancy and placed in a nature reserve also donated by our family.

The trusses of the bridge, shown above on the day the reserve was dedicated in 2002 serve as the entrance to the nature trail on the east side of Overlook Mountain.

The 1880 pony truss pictured above is one of two new “discoveries” since 1999. It is still in use for vehicular traffic and still carries its King Bridge Company plate. It is one of two trusses located in the Unadilla area of Otsego County that loyal pontist, Jim Stewart, photographed.

The King Bridge Company catalogue of 1884 lists two bridges as having been built in the Arcadia- Palmyra area across Ganargua Creek. One of these bridges was documented in a publication of the Wayne County Historical Society in the 1970s.

This bridge has disappeared, but the second bridge known as East Town Line Road Bridge is shown in the series of pictures taken over a twenty-year period from 1978 to 1998 shown above. This illustrates the fate of old iron bridges without a local sponsor to champion their upkeep.

This bridge is located not far from the Aldrich Change Bridge in Macedon-Palmyra Creek, an 1858 Whipple bowstring, which has been rehabilitated at a cost of $232,000 to become part of the New York State Heritage Trail system on a site over the old Erie Canal. The local group of dedicated pontists that undertook the Aldrich rehabilitation are discussing the possibility of applying their expertise to the East Town Line Bridge. Our family fund has offered help, if they decide to move ahead.

This is the second bridge “discovered” by Jim Stewart in the Unadilla area. While not in service, this 1886 bridge appears to have had some attention paid to it, since it was not destroyed when the modern bridge was built next to it. We would like to find out more about the history of this bridge and its current function. It is one of the last examples of a very popular bridge type that the King Bridge Company produced all over the state and nation in the 1880s and 1890s.

By the mid-1890s, a number of changes had taken place in the King Bridge Company. By the time Zenas died in 1892, he had transferred the presidency of the company to his eldest son, James A. King, who presided over an expanded group of talented civil engineers. With the expansion of the nation’s transportation network and with the need to produce of larger and more ambitious highway and railroad bridges, the company began to put more emphasis on bidding for larger and more sophisticated bridge projects. The company also started to build the steel framing for factories, shopping arcades, grandstands, and even an observatory[4]. Larger projects required that the company enter into joint venture and sub-contractual arrangements with other bridge builders and suppliers and to work with the design engineers of its clients. The skills of the civil engineers hired by the Company were featured in the sales catalogues in place of patent designs of Zenas King featured earlier.

However, Zenas’s early patent for a swing or turntable bridge probably put the Company in a good position to successfully bid on requests for this kind of structure required by the railroads and highway departments to cross navigable rivers and canals. The Company built at least two such bridges in New York City in the 1890s, a 389 foot span across the Harlem River for the New York and Hartford Railroad in 1895, and the 265 foot long bridge across the Harlem Ship Canal at Knightsbridge Road. The latter bridge still exists as the University Heights Bridge, pictured below.

The University Heights Bridge across the Harlem River at 207^th Street in New York City is the last of a number of moveable bridges the company constructed in the City in the thirty years between 1870 and 1900. This bridge has had a most interesting history. It began life at a location across the Harlem River Ship Canal at Knightsbridge in 1895 but was moved to its present location a mile down river when a wider bridge was required to carry the Broadway subway line into the Bronx. .It was one of the bridges designed by the brilliant bridge engineer, Albert Boller, who designed all the swing bridges across the Harlem River as a consultant to the City. The more complete story is described in the Moveable Bridge article in the History section of the website.

Swing bridges, bascule bridges, beam girder bridges, trestles and viaducts were built by the company for railroads all over the country. The section on railroad bridges that has been recently added to the website under History describes the breadth and scope of these activities. There are examples of most of these bridge types still standing in New York State[6].

These spectacular trestles played an important role in the expansion of the nation’s railroads by providing level at-grade passages across valleys, ravines and marshes. The King Bridge Company built a number of these trestles, including the two pictured above that still exist. The 975 foot Rosendale Viaduct was built for the Wallkill Valley Railroad in 1895 and is now in private hands after the rail line was abandoned and used as a hiking trail with spectacular views of Esopus Creek and the village of Rosendale. The Manhasset Viaduct was originally built in 1898 by the King Bridge Company, probably under a subcontract to the Carnegie Steel Company.[7] It has been extensively rebuilt over the years and it is heavily used today by Long Island Railroad commuter trains operating on the Port Washington branch. Research on the background and history of this structure is continuing.

This three span bridge was built in 1902 for the New York Central Railroad across the New York State Barge (Erie) Canal in Lockport. The center span pictured above is a deck truss of a design originally developed by one of the King Bridge Company’s staff engineers. The approach span on the left is a beam girder and on the right a smaller deck truss. While used for excursion trains and occasional freights, one of its prime functions is to serve as a preferred place to view the canal’s famous five step locks system.

Steel beam girder bridges like the one pictured above in Rochester, built in 1918 for the New York Central Railroad, were the bread and butter product of the company in the two decades it was in operation in the 20^th century. Many of these indestructible structures are still in operation today, including one in Auburn, Cayuga County, built in 1912 for the New York Central, next to the State Correctional facility. Both bridges still have their bridge plates.

There are at least two moveable bridges built by the King Bridge Company in New York State still standing. Unless something wonderful happens, only one will be left.

This is the last remaining railroad swing bridge built by the King Bridge Company and it is currently under a death sentence. It was built in 1905 for the New York Central across the Genesee River and was in constant use until about twelve years ago. Since it is not currently used for “transportation “purposes, its owner CSX Transportation, has been ordered by the U.S. Coast Guard to remove it as “a hazard to navigation” (boats have been navigating by it successfully for over 100 years). Despite the efforts of a dedicated group of local citizens to save this impressive structure, Rochester city officials have not been supportive. Our family gift fund has been helping support the preservation effort. More information can be found in the Special Hojack section on our website. The alternatives are first, to hope for a change of heart among local officials who might find a way to save the bridge as part of the renovation of the riverfront area where it serves as a landmark, second, to move the bridge to some other location where a willing sponsor could find a use for it, third, watch it being dismantled by a contractor who will sell the pieces for scrap. Stay tuned for the latest.

This curious little draw bridge in Piermont, Rockland County, is the only example of its kind we have seen This bridge was built in 1890 across a canal connecting to the Hudson River and is now used by exclusively by pedestrians and bicycle riders. It is apparently considered a local treasure and in no immediate danger.

[1] The photographs below were taken by the Sloan family, except where noted.

[2] Photograph from the Canton, New York Plain Dealer of February 1,2005.

[3] Photograph by Raymond Smith, NYSSHPO - 1979

[4] The dome of the Yerkes Observatory in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin was built by the King Bridge Company in 1895 under subcontract to the Warner & Swazey Company of Cleveland and is still in operation

[5] Photograph courtesy of the New York City Department of Transportation

[6] The last remaining bascule bridge still in operation is Old Nan, built by the King Bridge Company in collaboration with the Scherzer Lift Bridge Company of Chicago that carries the Acela trains running between Boston and New York across the Niatic River near New London, Connecticut.

[7] This information is contained in an article entitled “Building the Long Island Railroad” found on the Manhasset historical website (www.manhasset.org/history/railroad.html). We are currently trying to confirm this information and obtain up-to-date photos.

[8] Photograph by Richard Margolis