New Harmony Bridge

Information and Findings From DHPA Historic Bridge Survey

Statement of Significance

A number of features make this structure noteworthy. The crossing is long-standing, the toll feature atypical for Indiana, and the fabricator unusual here. The design also has some special features. The pattern for sloping the Parkers' top chords and the counterbalancing-struts of the center panels are quite unusual. Deck trusses are not common in Indiana either, and again the counter diagonals of the center panel in the longest Warren is different. The bridge appears to retain all its original members, including guardrails.

Architectural Description

To replace the traditional ferry crossing of the Wabash River at New Harmony, Indiana, the Harmony Way Bridge Company proposed the construction of a toll bridge probably in the early 1920s when a considerable number of toll structures for across the Ohio and Wabash were being discussed in river communities. By March 1929 Congress had granted a franchise for the Harmony Way Bridge, the War Department approved plans, and construction was scheduled for summer 1930. The Nashville Bridge Company of Nashville, Tennessee, fabricated the steel spans, metal piers, and pier towers or bents for the 2,579-ft. structure. By September 1939, the Harmony Way Bridge Company offered to sell their bridge to the state of Indiana, and within a year the Indiana State Toll Bridge Commission had agreed to purchase the structure for $945,000. Apparently the agreement with the state of Indiana was never completed, since the White County Illinois Bridge Commission now owns and maintains the structure.

The steel superstructures sit on high concrete piers for crossing the river and on steel piers alternated with pier-towers mounted on concrete bases for the approaches. Ten I-beam spans provide a 340-ft. approach to the river from New Harmony on a 5% grade. One 80-ft. 9-in. girder span plus thirty I-beam spans extend 1,000 ft. on a 3.5% grade westward from the river into Illinois.

All of the six trussed spans are riveted. Two Warren deck-truss spans with verticals complete the eastern approach, and four Parker through-truss spans cross the river. The Warrens consist of a four-panel span at 60 ft. and a seven-panel one at 100 ft. Laced channels provide the top-chord members and a pair of angles and battens the lower ones. The endpost and inner verticals are crafted from four laced angles; the four angles of the outer ones are riveted together with battens. The diagonals consist of a pair of angles--lighter toward midspan--and battens. In the longer span, the diagonals of the center panel cross as if to counter one another.

From the East, the four through-truss spans vary in length from 300 ft. to 233 ft., 234 ft., and 232 ft. Each is divided into ten panels with the top chord paralleling the lower one in the two most central panels. The pair of panels adjacent to the center ones share a common slope, leaving the next-to-outer and endpost panels with still different slopes. The two most central panels are partly counterbalanced and braced by a counter-diagonal from the upper central panel point to the midsection of the diagonal from whence the member becomes a horizontal strut. Substantial portal and wind bracing support the trusses. Heavy I-floor-beams are riveted to the verticals at and above the lower chord and carry the 20-ft. concrete roadway.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: Yes