Wrought Iron Bridge Company

Wrought Iron Bridge Company

Industry	Civil Engineering
Founded	1864
Headquarters	Canton, Ohio
Key people	David Hammond, founder
Products	bridge building construction

The Wrought Iron Bridge Company was a bridge fabrication and construction company based in Canton, Ohio. It specialized, as the name would suggest, in the fabrication of iron truss bridges and was a prolific bridge builder in the late 19th century. It was one of the 28 firms consolidated by JP Morgan into the American Bridge Company in 1900.

Products

The Wrought Iron Bridge Company specialized in relatively short-span iron truss bridges. Most were built for highway use, as the railroads were all privately owned at the time and employed their own engineers. The company supplied a catalog of bridge designs and mass produced the parts to build these designs. Once a bridge was ordered, the pieces were shipped by train to the nearest station. Thus, local contractors were able to assemble a bridge very quickly, much like a model.

1882 Pamphlet

Illustration of a single intersection Pratt truss

An illustrated pamphlet, dated 1882, is available online. In this pamphlet, Wrought Iron Bridge claims that "during the past 18 years this firm have erected nearly 4,300 spans, varying in length from 20 to 300 feet." At the time of publication, the company had worked in 26 US States, Canada and Mexico.

Wrought Iron Bridge were able to assemble their bridges very quickly and the pamphlet claims that they "have completed 100 to 140 foot spans at points from 100 to 300 miles distant from our works in 8 to 15 days." They were not quite as fast on larger bridges, but the "350 foot bridge, 38 foot wide, built at New Philadelphia, Ohio, was completed for travel in 40 days from the receipt of the contract," a speed unheard of for modern construction, often because of legal red tape.

Surviving Bridges

Maple/Foster Bridge, Barton Hills, Michigan

• Kern Bridge, in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, 1873
• Blackfriars Street Bridge, in London, Ontario, 1875
• Poffenberger Road Bridge, near Jefferson, Maryland, 1878
• Fourpoints Bridge, near Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1878?
• Laughery Creek Bridge, in Dearborn County, Indiana, 1878
• Masemore Road Bridge, near Baltimore, Maryland 21120, 1898
• Pott's Ford Bridge, in Glasco, Kansas, 1884
• Nevius Street Bridge, in Raritan, New Jersey, 1886
• Maple/Foster Bridge, Barton Hills, Michigan, circa 1876
• Delhi Bridge, Scio Township, Michigan, 1890

Bridges listed on the National Register of Historic Places, most of which will be surviving, include (and credit given):

• Bell Road Bridge, Bell Rd. at the Huron River, Dexter Township, Pinckney, Michigan (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Brewer Bridge, Co. Rd. over the Niobrara R., 14.7 mi. E of Valentine, Valentine, Nebraska (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Bridge in East Fallowfield Township, LR 20012 over Unger Run, Atlantic, Pennsylvania (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Bridge in Rockdale Township, LR 20076 over French Creek, Millers Station, Pennsylvania (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Bridge in Washington Township, LR 66150 over Bermudian Creek, Kralltown, Pennsylvania (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Caledonia Bowstring Bridge, N of Caledonia, Caledonia, Ohio (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Caledonia Bridge, Across the Goose River, unnamed co. rd., approximately 1 mi. W of the Minnesota state line Caledonia, North Dakota (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Chain Lakes Bridge, Pedestrian trail over Cedar R., Hiawatha, Iowa (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Cornelia Lake Bridge, Over inlet of Cornelia Lake, Clarion, Iowa (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Costilla Crossing Bridge, Cty. Rd. over Rio Grande River, Antonito, Colorado (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Delhi Bridge, E. Delhi Rd. over Huron River Scio MI (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Fourpoints Bridge, SE of Emmitsburg Emmitsburg MD (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Gholson Bridge, S of Lawrenceville on VA 715 at Meherrin River Lawrenceville VA (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Gilbert Bridge, Bishop Rd./Gilbert Rd. over Yellow Breeches Creek Grantham PA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Gilbert Bridge, Bishop Rd./Gilbert Rd. over Yellow Breeches Creek Siddonsburg PA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Gilliece Bridge, Cattle Creek Rd. over Upper Iowa R. Bluffton IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Glenville Truss Bridge, Conrad Court, over Little Kanawha R. Glenville WV (Wrought Iron Bridge Builders)
• Goose River Bridge, Across the Goose River, unnamed co. rd., approximately 6 mi. E and 1 mi. N of Hillsboro Hillsboro ND (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Higginsville Road Bridges, Higginsville Rd. at the South Branch of the Raritan River Hillsborough NJ (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Independence Bowstring, Over the Verdigris River, N of jct. of Burns and Myrtle Sts. Independence KS (Wrought Iron Bridge Builders)
• Indian Creek Bridge, Artesian Rd. over Indian Cr. Cedar Rapids IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Kern Bridge, Twp. Rd. over LeSueur River Skyline MN (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Lamb's Creek Bridge, Jct. of Lamb's Creek and Old IN 67 W Martinsville IN (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Laughery Creek Bridge, S of Aurora W of IN 56 Aurora IN (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Lawrence Bridge, 330th Ave. over Little Turkey R. Jackson Junction IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Linville Creek Bridge, S of Broadway on SR 1421 Broadway VA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Mark Road Bridge, Mark Rd. over Sugar Cr. Staunton OH (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Mill Road Bowstring Bridge, Mill Rd Bladensburg OH (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Olive Branch Bridge, W. Stagecoach Rd. over Olive Br., 1.7 mi. SW of Sprague Sprague NE (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Parshallburg Bridge, Ditch Rd. over the Shiawassee R., Chesaning Township Oakley MI (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Patoka Bridges Historic District, Address Restricted Oakland City IN (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Paw Paw Creek Bridge No. 52, Paw Paw Pike Chili IN (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Pine Mill Bridge, over Pine Cr. in Wildcat Den State Park Muscatine IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Poffenberger Road Bridge, S of Middletown Middletown MD (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Pott's Ford Bridge, Over Solomon River, SE of Glasco Glasco KS (Wrought Iron Bridge Builders)
• Raritan Bridge, Nevius St. over Raritan R., Bridgewater and Hillsborough Townships Raritan NJ (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Riley Creek Bridge, Over Riley Creek, S of Belleville Belleville KS (Wrought Iron Bridge Builders)
• Solgohachia Bridge, Cty Rd. 67 Solgohachia AR (Wrought Iron Bridge Company)
• Spencer's Crossing Bridge, Over Pottawatomie Creek, NW of Greeley Greeley KS (Wrought Iron Bridge Builders)
• Taylor's Ford Bridge, Nolen Ave. over Wapsipinicon R. Independence IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Third Street Bridge, 3rd St., SE. Canton OH (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Turkey River Bridge, Little Church Rd. over Turkey R. Festina IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Twin Bridge, Co. Rd. over the N. Loup R., 7.9 mi. NW of Brownlee Brownlee NE (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Upper Bluffton Bridge, Ravine Rd. over Upper Iowa R. Bluffton IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.)
• Upper Paris Bridge, Sutton rd. over Wapsipinicon R. Coggin IA (Wrought Iron Bridge Company
• Wells Street Bridge, Wells St. at the St. Mary's River Fort Wayne IN (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.
• White Bridge, .07 miles E of SR 616 crossing Yellow Creek Poland Village OH (Wrought Iron Bridge Co.

References

Delhi Bridge, Scio Township, Michigan

Wrought Iron Bridge Co. (1882). Illustrated Pamphlet of Wrought Iron Bridges [Electronic version]. Canton, Ohio. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/cdm4/bridges_viewer.php?DMTHUMB=&CISOPTR=366&ptr=391&view=de
Structurae online article: http://en.structurae.de/firms/data/index.cfm?ID=f000652