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Key Facts
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This bridge was built by James R. Gemmill of the Sharpsville Steam Boiler Works of Sharpsville, Pennsylvania according to the tiny plaque mounted on a gusset plate on the hip vertical top chord connection. It is an unusual bridge featuring the uncommon double-intersection Warren truss configuration. It is also a rather lightweight bridge in terms of its members and chords. It is historically significant for its association with a local builder, who reportedly built a number of other bridges in Mercer County.
Nate Clark provides the following information:
This little pony truss is a former county- or township-owned span that was moved in 1967 from the Hamburg/Big Bend area when roads in the future Shenango River Reservoir basin area were being relocated to higher ground or abandoned. According to his sons, Mr. Narlee of Sharpsville Steel Erectors split the truss lengthwise and trucked it to property he owned in Mercer, the county seat. The span is now privately owned, on the same site, by Edward and Earl Michaels, owners of E&E Welding & Exhaust just off U.S. Rt. 19 and Rt. 62 (the two highways split, going northbound, about 100 yards from this bridge). It crosses Munnell Run, a small stream along Fairgrounds Road, just down the hill from the Mercer County Courthouse, and provides access into the back parking area of E&E.
