The Wrought Iron Bridge Company was a bridge fabrication and construction company based in Canton, Ohio, United States. It specialized 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 J. P. Morgan into the American Bridge Company in 1900. Many of its bridges have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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
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 Aetnaville Bridge, in Wheeling, West Virginia, 1891 Bishop Road Bridge in Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania 1898 Blackfriars Street Bridge, in London, Ontario, 1875 Chain Lakes Bridge, near Palo, Iowa, 1884 County Line Bowstring, near Concordia, Kansas, 1876 Delhi Bridge, Scio Township, Michigan, 1883Ann Arbor Courier, 10/12/1883 Dickey Bridge, in Orange County Indiana, Circa 1880 East Mineral Road Bridge, Erving/Montague, Franklin County, Massachusetts, 1888 Fourpoints Bridge, near Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1878? Gholson Bridge, in Brunswick County, Virginia, 1884 Hotel Bridge, Leeds, Northampton, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, 1880 Howell Park Golf Course Bridge in Howell, New Jersey 1899 Kern Bridge, in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, 1873 Laughery Creek Bridge, in Dearborn County, Indiana, 1878 Lawrence Bridge in Jackson Junction, Iowa, 1880 Lattice Road Bridge, Hume, New York, 1887 Linville Creek Bridge, in Broadway, Rockingham County, Virginia, 1898 Maple/Foster Bridge, Barton Hills, Michigan, circa 1876 Masemore Road Bridge, near Baltimore, Maryland, 1898 Nevius Street Bridge, in Raritan/Hillsborough, New Jersey, 1886 Old Mill Road truss bridge over the Wickecheoke Creek, Delaware Township, New Jersey, 1899 Poffenberger Road Bridge, near Jefferson, Maryland, 1878 Pott's Bridge, in Glasco, Kansas, 1884 Rockafellows Mill Bridge, Rockefellows Mills, New Jersey, 1900 Rome Westernville Road Bridge, Mohawk River, Rome, New York, 1884 Rough Holler Bridge, near Hermitage, Missouri, 1891 Springbanks (Renwick Road) Bridge, Plainfield, Illinois, built before 1901 Strimple's Mill Road Bridge over Lockatong Creek, Delaware Township, New Jersey, 1897 Tioga Bridge White / Carroll County, Indiana 1890 Van Buren Bridge, in Freeport, Illinois, 1885 Walnut River Bridge, near Douglass, Kansas in Butler County, Kansas, built before 1900 Wells Street Bridge, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1884 West Liberty Bridge CR-225, in Morrow County, Ohio, 1876
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Citations
References Wrought Iron Bridge Co. (1882). Illustrated Pamphlet of Wrought Iron Bridges [Electronic version]. Canton, Ohio. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from Illustrated pamphlet of wrought iron bridges built by Wrought Iron Bridge Company, Canton, Ohio. Structurae online article: http://en.structurae.de/firms/data/index.cfm?ID=f000652 Wrought Iron Bridge Co. photographs, 1872-1874 digitized photo album at Stanford University Libraries