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| Key Facts |
| Bridge Name | Facility Carried / Feature Intersected | Location | Structure Type | Construction Date and Builder/Engineer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X |
Maple Rapids Road Bridge
| Maple Rapids Road Over Maple River | Rural (Near Maple Rapids): Clinton County, Michigan | Metal 5 Panel Pin-Connected Pratt Through Truss, Fixed | 1888 By Builder/Contractor: Variety Ironworks of Cleveland, Ohio |
| Technical Facts |
| Main Span Length | Structure Length | Roadway Width | Main Spans | NBI Number |
| 93 Feet (28.3 Meters) | 93 Feet (28.3 Meters) | 14 Feet (4.3 Meters) | 1 | 19308H00012B010 |
For years, HistoricBridges.org warned that this bridge was at risk of collapse and should be moved off its abutments to save it from destruction. HistoricBridges.org tried to see out new owners who would have relocated and preserved the bridge elsewhere. Those pleas fell on deaf ears, and in April 2013, one of the last surviving bridges built by the Variety Ironworks... and the only one in Michigan... collapsed into the river. The collapse was the fault of the stone abutments. Enough stones washed out that they were unable to support the superstructure. An iron truss superstructure in a condition that would have been easy to restore was destroyed by crumbling abutments.
Reportedly, the bridge is too badly damaged now to be salvaged and preserved. The plan is that the bridge will be dragged out by the county road commission. The only remotely good news is that select parts of the bridge will be salvaged for research, and the remaining material will be scrapped out, and the scrap money will fund future Iron and Steel Preservation efforts at Lansing Community College.
A number of Michigan's metal truss bridges like this one were built on random rubble abutments. While they may look quaint and historic, they are far more poorly designed than coursed ashlar that was popular in states like Pennsylvania. If bridges are to be preserved in place, HistoricBridges.org suggests that if funding allows, drastic action like encasing random rubble abutments in concrete or replacing them entirely may be wise for the sake of preserving the historic truss. Unlike coursed ashlar, random rubble abutments have little ability to hold themselves together once the mortar begins to deteriorate.
It could be gone tomorrow, or it might stand for another
decade. The reality is that one of the next few spring floods will most likely spell the end
for this unusual and beautiful bridge. The loss of
this unique bridge will be a tragedy. This bridge is technically already half
collapsed in that one corner of the bridge has dropped six to twelve inches.
This is due to a major portion of the stone abutments being washed away. The
result was that the bridge had nothing to sit on in its southeast corner, and that corner
fell to a spot where there was still something to sit on. This drop resulted in
damage to the rest of the bridge. Specifically, some of the deck stringers came
loose. The original pole guardrails on the east side of the bridge were bent up
a little. Bottom chord eyebars on both sides of the bridge are bowed out. The
portal bracing was bent as well. Needless to say,
there are now parts of the bridge that are under more tension or
compression that they were designed for, and the bridge itself might eventually
break apart further even if the abutments do not deteriorate further.
This bridge has a standard pin connected Pratt truss configuration, but it also has a number of unusual and noteworthy details. The bridge has built-up floor beams with an attractive shape to them. The sway bracing is also an unusual design. There is v-lacing on the top of the top chord which is especially rare. Another oddity is that the end post is not the same design as the top chord: the end posts have a plate riveted on the top side which is the more common design. The corners of the portal bracing have circles inside them, adding a strong decorative aspect to the bridge. At five panels, this is a relatively short through truss. This bridge is the last example in Michigan built by the Variety Ironworks from Cleveland, Ohio. It was built in 1888, according to the Historic Bridge Inventory. However the discovery of an 1891 Variety Iron Works bridge plaque at the county road commission suggests that the bridge may have been built in 1891.
It would have seemed logical to preserve this truss bridge because it is located in a state game area, where it could have served foot traffic. Unfortunately, preserving closed truss bridges in state parks rarely happens in Michigan. The Ford Road Bridge and the Turner Road Bridge are both examples of bridges in state game areas that were abandoned with no restoration. When these bridges collapse, it makes it very inconvenient to access the areas across the river. Restoring these bridges would have helped unite the park and also preserve a rare and beautiful part of Michigan's transportation heritage.
The Variety Iron
Works was an aptly named company, since they
built far more than just bridges, with a portfolio ranging from fire grates to
observation towers. The Historic American Engineering Record presents a short
history below.
The Variety Iron Works Company was first listed in the Cleveland city directory in 1867. In 1872 the officers were C. F. Olds, F. L. Chamberlain, and Lucius M. Pitkin, who remained with the company for many years. The works was located on Scranton Road at the Brie Railway tracks on the west side of the Cuyahoga River in the industrial valley of Cleveland, where the company made boilers, tanks, heavy sheet-iron, fire grates, pulleys and hangers. By the 1890s, when it built the Gettysburg observation tower, a second works had been opened on the east side of Cleveland on the Pennsylvania Railroad, for the fabrication of bridges, roofs, iron and steel buildings, architectural work, and hoisting and conveying machinery. At that time Cleveland was the leading center in the country for the production of heavy machinery. The Hamilton Avenue buildings of Number 2 works are still partially intact. Before 1912 the company became the Variety Iron and Steel Works, J. H. Webster, president. The company remained active throughout the 1920s, but was apparently a victim of the Depression, since it does not appear in the city directory of 1934. Source: Historic American Engineering Record HAER: PA-1776
Another history from Historic American Engineering Record appears in another documentation:
The Variety Iron Works Company was incorporated in 1866 with a capital stock of $60,000 and increased its capitalization to $200,000 in 1886. The 1888 directory The Industries of Cleveland noted that Variety Iron Works fully lived up to its name, manufacturing "steam boilers of all kinds (marine, locomotive, stationary and portable)" as "a specialty in which the works have achieved deserved fame", but also making "a general line of plate, sheet, wrought and cast iron work" including tanks, stills, smokestacks, breeching, forgings, machinery, shafts, pulleys, hangers, light and heavy castings, shaking grates, Butman fire fronts and automatic doors, railroad crossings, frogs, switches, switch stands, track supplies, and tie-bars. Variety's main plant, at Scranton Avenue and Carter Street in Cleveland, burned during the city's great fire of 1884, but was rebuilt "on a much more extended scale" making the firm "one of the largest, completest and most comprehensive boiler works, machine shops, and foundries in the country."
In 1888, the company was led by LM. Pitkin, President, and F.L. Chamberlin, Secretary; Pitkin "had personal supervision of the works." The firm also owned the Cleveland facing mills and was ready to fill orders for seacoal, charcoal, stove plate facings, foundry supplies, crucibles, shovels, steel and brass riddles, moiders' tools, fire brick, and day. A work force of 220 labored at Variety in 1888; by 1893, the total number of workers was 350. Research indicates that the company expanded into fabrication of metal truss bridges after the main plant was rebuilt in the wake of the fire of 1884.
The 1888 industrial directory observed that "the company has recently purchased the Buckeye Bridge and Boiler Works, at Hamilton street near Case Avenue, and are already engaged in building bridges," Reflecting the firm's foray into bridge building, a third key company officer in 1893 was Charles F. Lewis, the firm's chief engineer and superintendent. An 1898 Engineering News advertisement noted that Variety Iron Works then worked in the "three B's: bridges, buildings, and boilers." Iron and steel directories of the period indicate that the Variety Iron Works was active in the manufacture of bridges from 1888 through at least 1901; no records have been found indicating the date when the company ceased operations. Source: Historic American Engineering Record HAER: VA-1743
According to a forum post on Bridgehunter by Gerry McGuire, his grandfather, J.P. McGuire was a metallurgical engineer who was president of Variety Iron Works for a time. McGuire died in 1908 and the company was apparently bought by two gentlemen, one with the last name of Mathers and the other with the last name of Pitkin (likely former officer Lucius M. Pitkin). According to Gerry McGuire, the company eventually became Interlake Steel.
The plaque shown to the left is a photo taken by Luke Gordon showing a bridge plaque found in the Clinton County Road Commission building. While there is some uncertainly that this plaque actually came from the Maple Rapids Road Bridge, none of the other surviving truss bridges in the county display the style of this company, and it is questionable that there was another bridge built by this small bridge company in the county. It seems fairly likely that this plaque did in fact come from the Maple Rapids Road Bridge.
Remaining Variety Iron Works Bridges
Including the Maple Rapids Road Bridge, there are currently only about a handful or so other bridges known to remain in the country built by the Variety Iron Works. Bridges photographed by HistoricBridges.org are the Iron Bridge Road Bridge (slated for demolition) and the Red Mills Bridge (closed, future uncertain) in Pennsylvania, the Caldwell Road Bridge (abandoned, future uncertain) in Ohio, and the Featherbed Lane Bridge in Virginia.
Other Variety Iron Works Structures (Both Demolished and Extant)
True to its name, the company built a variety of structures beyond bridges. There are some observation towers in Gettysburg National Park that they built as well as one as Valley Forge. The Valley Forge Tower was demolished, but some of the Gettysburg towers appear to remain. One example is shown below. The company also built some lighthouses as Volume 69 of Steel and Iron indicated, one at the Sturgeon Bay Canal and the other at Devil's Island both along Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. Another was erected at North Manitou in Michigan. The article which includes drawings is available here. The towers were an experimental design, and they turned out to be too slender and needed additional bracing added. Built in 1898, the Sturgeon Bay Canal tower was altered in 1903 to fix vibrations in the tower. Diagrams for the Sturgeon Bay Canal structure show steel buttress-like additions were attached to the tower from the base up to the light. At the base, the original curved lattice buttresses were expanded as well to accommodate this.
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| Above: Culp's Hill Observation Tower, Gettysburg. Photo Credit: Richard Welty, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 | Above: Sturgeon Bay Canal Light. Photo Credit: Anne Hornyak, CC BY-SA 2.0 |
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2009 Documentation
Original / Full Size Photos |
A collection of overview and detail photos, with a focus on details. For the best visual immersion and full detail, or for use as a desktop background, this gallery presents the photos for this bridge in the original digital camera resolution. |
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2009 Documentation
Mobile Optimized Gallery |
A collection of overview and detail photos, with a focus on details. View the photos for this bridge in a reduced size which is useful for mobile/smartphone users, modem
(dial-up) users, or those who do not wish to wait for the longer
download times of the full-size photos. Alternatively, view this photo gallery using a popup slideshow viewer (great for mobile users) by clicking the link below.
Browse Gallery With Popup Viewer |
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Earlier Visits and Winter Gallery
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This gallery includes beautiful winter photos of this bridge and all other earlier documentation of the bridge as well. A focus on overview photos is present here. This photo gallery contains a combination of Original / Full Sized photos and Mobile/Smartphone Optimized (Reduced Size) photos. Alternatively, view this photo gallery using a popup slideshow viewer by clicking the link below.
Browse Gallery With Popup Viewer |
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February 2011 Visit
Original / Full Size Photos |
A brief assessment of the bridge and site conditions in early 2011 with deep snow on the ground. For the best visual immersion and full detail, or for use as a desktop background, this gallery presents the photos for this bridge in the original digital camera resolution. |
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February 2011 Visit
Mobile Optimized Gallery |
A brief assessment of the bridge and site conditions in early 2011 with deep snow on the ground. View the photos for this bridge in a reduced size which is useful for mobile/smartphone users, modem
(dial-up) users, or those who do not wish to wait for the longer
download times of the full-size photos. Alternatively, view this photo gallery using a popup slideshow viewer (great for mobile users) by clicking the link below.
Browse Gallery With Popup Viewer |
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April 2013 Collapse
Original / Full Size Photos |
Photos of the bridge after it collpased. For the best visual immersion and full detail, or for use as a desktop background, this gallery presents the photos for this bridge in the original digital camera resolution. |
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April 2013 Collapse
Mobile Optimized Gallery |
Photos of the bridge after it collpased. View the photos for this bridge in a reduced size which is useful for mobile/smartphone users, modem
(dial-up) users, or those who do not wish to wait for the longer
download times of the full-size photos. Alternatively, view this photo gallery using a popup slideshow viewer (great for mobile users) by clicking the link below.
Browse Gallery With Popup Viewer |
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North Site Conditions Full Motion Video |
A short pan around showing conditions as seen from the north side of the bridge. Streaming video of the bridge. Also includes a higher quality downloadable video for greater clarity or offline viewing. |
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South Site Conditions Full Motion Video |
A short pan around showing conditions south of the bridge as seen from the north side of the bridge. Also shows the truss. Streaming video of the bridge. Also includes a higher quality downloadable video for greater clarity or offline viewing. |
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Information and Findings From MDOT