Scott Road Bridge

Information and Findings From Ohio's Historic Bridge Inventory

Setting/Context

The bridge carries a 1 lane of a closed road over a stream in a redeveloping rural area where large houses are being constructed on former farm land.

Physical Description

The 1-span, inverted kingpost pony truss bridge with lattice railings set inside the truss lines is supported on deteriorating ashlar abutments. It has been strengthened by placing rolled beams outside the truss lines to pick up the floorbeam. The upper chords are badly deteriorated and are sagging despite the placement of additional material. Members are severely deteriorated.

Integrity

Badly deteriorated.

Summary of Significance

The short-span, inverted king post, pony truss bridge is a rare example of a distinctive type/design attributable to the Canton Bridge Co. of Canton, Oh. This is 1 of 3 identified examples (Phase 1B, July 2009), and it is dated 1910 by the county. It is technologically significant because it represents the era of innovation and experimentation in metal-truss bridge design and an unusual solution to the need for short-span, metal-truss highway bridges in the late 19th century. Because of deterioration and loss of historic fabric and the alteration of the original floorbeam connection at mid-span as part of its 1987 conversion to a steel stringer in 1987, it has lost its integrity and no longer meets the NR criteria. A more complete example dated ca. 1890 remains in Holmes County (3841278) and the other in Jefferson County.

The Canton Bridge Company was established in 1876, but apparently struggled financially and was reorganized in 1891. One of the original 1891 stockholders was David Hammond, the founder of Canton's larger and better-known fabricator, the Wrought Iron Bridge Company in 1866. The Canton Bridge Company was perhaps best known for its successful sales network with offices in major cities from the Northeast to the Midwest with the offices headed by relatives or close associates of David Hammond. In 1901, the company erected over 800 bridges and claimed to have fabricated 25% of all highway bridges built in Ohio that year. The company remained in operation through at least the mid-1910s.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: No