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Key Facts |
Bridge Name | Type | Road | Location | City | Crossing |
| Quaker Bridge | Truss | Williamson Road | Mercer County, PA | Rural (Near Greenville) | Little Shenango River |
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Technical Facts |
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Construction Date |
Structure Length | Deck Width | Builder |
| 1898 (Arguable) | 126 Feet | 14.2 Feet | J. R. Gemmill; Also arguably, Cleveland Bridge Company of Cleveland, OH. |
June 15, 2006 - Quaker Bridge Saved
The Quaker Bridge was finally saved from demolition thanks to 33 months of work by Nate Clark. Work on the new bridge will continue as planned, and it will be opened to traffic. However the truss bridge will be able to continue standing out of the way of its replacement on the old road alignment, where work on its preservation can take place and the eventual creation of a park around it.
The Quaker Bridge has been bypassed by a modern bridge for vehicular traffic, which is still being finished. The historic Quaker Bridge will be restored for pedestrian traffic, and a park will be created around it. The McKeowen Road Bridge in Michigan perhaps serves as a rough idea of what might develop around the Quaker Bridge.
One really good piece of news is that finally this may be a bridge that when restored, will not have its aesthetic value compromised by distasteful modern wooden railings or cyclone fencing. Plans are in the works to recover historic lattice railings from an undetermined truss bridge that is demolished in the future. I hope this plan hold together, since attractive, period railings on the Quaker Bridge will improve the appearance of the bridge to a state of beauty even greater than it is today. It is sad that the railings must come from a demolished truss bridge, but since in Pennsylvania truss demolition is bound to happen anyway, it makes sense to save and reuse the railings instead of condemning them to the dumpster. Hopefully, mention will be made in any interpretive signage near the bridge as to what bridge the railings came from, so it can be a memorial to that bridge as well. I am no stranger to reusing truss bridge parts, since a year ago, I rescued some larger c. 1905 lattice railings off of a doomed Michigan Nicol Road Bridge for a friend of mine who hopes to eventually re-use them on a private bridge.
An Overview of Truss Bridge Preservation in Pennsylvania
In order to understand how significant the saving of the Quaker Bridge is, some background is necessary. Covering western Pennsylvania has always been a priority for me on this website. Ever since discovering the Disappearing Bridges website, I recognized Pennsylvania as a place of concern and interest. Pennsylvania clearly had done better than most other states over the past decades in maintaining (painting, re-decking etc) their truss bridges. The result is that as the 21st century rolled around they had more truss bridges than many other states, most even open to traffic, and many having great historic significance. This was a stark comparison to states like Michigan which was mostly composed of a less numerous selection of truss bridges, most closed to traffic, severely rusted, and no remaining paint. Nothing lasts forever, and Pennsylvania's routine maintenance only worked for so long until the point was reached where the bridges needed more than a paint job. Pennsylvania faced two options: a complete restoration... or demolition of a bridge as methods of keeping a crossing safe for vehicles. As the 20th century ended and metal truss bridges neared or passed their 100th birthdays, Pennsylvania started demolishing truss bridges at a frightening rate, ignoring the fact that often restorations are less costly and are a sensible option to both serve traffic and preserve history and beauty. This trend, of great concern to anyone with an interest in historic truss bridges, continues to the present day. Although Pennsylvania has more truss bridges than Michigan, they actually have preserved less than states like Michigan. As of July of 2006, only four state-owned historic truss bridges had been preserved by PennDOT. Perhaps it is because there are so many left in Pennsylvania that PennDOT and area residents and do not recognize how rare they are. This is unfortunate, since it makes sense to pick the bridges to preserve today, when the variety and quantity to choose from is more diverse. I have often said that the only thing that "Pennsylvania" and "Preservation" have in common is the same first letter! The preservation of the Quaker Bridge is clearly an exception to the usual for Pennsylvania. However, it is not too late for additional bridge preservation efforts in Pennsylvania to take place. I hope that the events that are unfolding at the Quaker Bridge will quickly serve as a guide for additional bridge preservation activities in Pennsylvania before it is too late.
Quaker Bridge: An Unprecedented Feat
It is clear that the preservation of the Quaker Bridge is a significant achievement. Nate Clark, a historic bridge enthusiast who lives outside of Greenville, Pennsylvania, almost single-handedly organized and directed the process to keep the Quaker Bridge from being demolished. He however was only able to save the bridge through the help and cooperation of a number of people. Nate mentions that "This landmark bridge preservation was only made possible through the generous cooperation of many people, including PennDOT District and Headquarters staff; PA Department of Environmental Protection staff; contractor Delta Constructors; the adjacent private property owners; the Mercer County Historical Society, and the law offices of Halliday & Halliday. Additionally, representatives of township, county, state and federal government all played key roles in keeping this piece of Pennsylvania history from being destroyed and melted down."
It really is amazing that the Quaker Bridge is even standing today, it came so close to being bulldozed. Mercer County had created a website to act as the required demolition mitigation effort as dictated by law. The Quaker Bridge was looking right at the ugly face of cutting torches, but thanks to Nate Clark's efforts to save the bridge, demolition was averted at almost the last minute. Nate Clark relates the experience below.
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Nate Clark's June 15, 2006 Comments Regarding the Saving of Quaker Bridge This was not easy and, worse, I was making it up as I was going along. And, it very nearly went 'the other way': the contractor told me today the frightening fact that one morning 11 days ago, in compliance with his contract, his people had unloaded the oxygen and acetylene tanks from the gas truck and were stringing hose for the torches to the bridge when PennDOT called him in the field office and put a ten-day 'stay-of-execution' on it to buy us a little more time. He immediately Nextelled his men and ordered them to reload the burning/cutting equipment and pull out. He has been extraordinary in his cooperation since I met him in the snow over there at the project's very beginning. I think he may have actually been relieved when PennDOT called off the first 'execution' date. Without an understanding contractor, that bridge steel would all be en route, tonight, to a melt shop furnace, probably in China. In fact, the ten-day 'stay' expired yesterday, and today was to have been the first day in 108 years to end without Quaker Bridge spanning the Little Shenango River. |
The Quaker Bridge is a pin connected Pratt through truss with pinned connections. The 126 foot structure is composed of eight panels. Original railings do not remain on the bridge, and modern Armco railings are present on the bridge. A unique square-shaped design of decorative finials are mounted on the ends of the top chord. The portal bracing is a lattice design. V-lacing is present on the vertical members. The bridge features some unusual/uncommon construction design. The lacing and lattice, as well as the finials make this a very visually attractive bridge. The stone abutments, although seen frequently in Pennsylvania, are uncommon in other states like Michigan and offer an attractive seat for the bridge over other materials such as concrete. The overhead lateral bracing is tied directly into the pin on the connections via a plate with a hole in it. This is less common than the usual method of mounting the overhead lateral bracing above the top chord or in the sway bracing. The floor beams are the less common riveted girders that have an arched shape to them. I find this design to be quite attractive.
While at the bridge, I noticed that one of the stones had an outline labeled "save" on it, and that the stone appeared to have a date on it, which looked like 187-something date to me at the time.
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Nate Clark's Ideas on the "Mystery Stone" That unusual stone in the west abutment of Quaker Bridge MAY contain a time capsule, and that's why the Mercer County Historical Society and I asked PennDOT and the contractor to be gentle in its extraction, had my efforts to save the truss failed. The ashlar abutment stones, along with the steel deck grating, were to have been salvaged for and retained by PennDOT, after the truss was razed and scrapped. Because it may be 'chipped', I cannot determine whether the last digit that was carefully cut into that stone may be a '1', a '4' or a '7', but 187X-anything would predate the 1898 construction of Quaker, and therefore suggest that those abutments may have supported an earlier span (a wooden covered bridge, perhaps?) at that location. The Erie Extension of the Beaver and Lake Erie Canal was where the west approach and abutment for Quaker Bridge now (and still) stand: it ceased operation on this segment in 1871, so that MAY be the date in that bridge abutment stone. |
The Quaker Bridge is an excellent example of a classic pin connected through truss. The Mercer County demolition mitigation website attempted to describe the bridge saying "The bridge is an example of a common Pratt Through Truss lacking distinctive details. The design reflects the increasing standardization of truss bridge designs in the last part of the nineteenth century." Truss bridges are hardly "common" on today's roadways. Common is a rather insensitive word to use with metal truss bridges, and is indicative of someone who is an engineer but has no historian background. The comment that it reflects standardization is a moot point, since this movement toward standardization did not happen just during the time of the Quaker Bridge. Rather, it was a general trend that started in the 1870s or earlier, and continued through the 20th century. While a bridge like the Quaker Bridge might appear more standardized than a bridge built in 1870, a bridge built 20 years after the Quaker Bridge would look equally more standardized. The Quaker Bridge simply falls in a period of that standardization trend. And within that tend, I feel the Quaker Bridge still falls in a period where the visual appearance, and even the construction details, of one bridge to the next varied extensively. Granted, the truss configuration of the Quaker Bridge is the most common form of truss built during the 1880s through the early 1900s. Beyond that, there is great diversity in truss bridges built during this time. Finally, the suggestion that the bridge lacks distinctive details is downright incorrect from my perspective. The decorative finials mounted on top of each end of the bridge are certainly distinctive! Finials are uncommon, and the particular design seen on the Quaker Bridge is even more unusual. Also, if whoever removed the plaques off the bridge had not done so, those would have been further distinctive details.
About the Cleveland Bridge Company, From http://www.mercercotrussbridges.comThe Cleveland Bridge and Iron Company, was formed ca. 1850 as Thatcher, Burt, and Company, with offices in Springfield, Massachusetts and Cleveland, Ohio. The principals, Peter Thatcher, Jr. and George H. Burt, had experience building railroads and railroad bridges throughout the east coast region. In 1852, Thatcher’s nephew, Henry Martyn Claflen, joined the firm, and the Massachusetts office was apparently closed. Thatcher, Burt, and Company purchased the regional rights to build Howe trusses, a bridge type with wood compression members and iron tension members. The company erected Howe truss bridges throughout Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Kentucky in the 1850s. During the Civil War, Claflen built railroad bridges for the Union Army, most notably to help relieve the siege of Chattanooga. In 1865, Claflen and Albert C. McNairy formed the bridge building firm of McNairy, Claflen & Co. By 1868, the company’s name had been changed to Cleveland Bridge and Car Works. The company now held the rights in southern and western states to “Post’s Diagonal Truss,” a hybrid of a Warren truss and a Whipple truss. Like the Warren truss, the Post truss had compression posts placed at an angle; like the Whipple truss it had diagonals in tension stretching across more than one panel point. In 1875, McNairy, Claflen & Co. entered receivership, although its fabrication shop continued to operate under a lease to another company. In either 1877 or 1879 the company reorganized as the Cleveland Bridge and Iron Company, with Henry Claflen as its president. The last year the Cleveland Bridge and Iron Company appears in the Cleveland city directory is 1894, the year it apparently went out of business. |
The Historic Quaker Bridge is a 126-foot-long; Victorian-era
Cleveland Bridge Company Pratt through-truss near Greenville; Mercer
County, Pennsylvania.
Built in 1898 to carry Williamson Road over the Little Shenango River in Mercer
County, between Erie and Pittsburgh, this strong-yet-graceful pin-connected span
was listed on The National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Quaker is believed to be the fourth state-owned historic metal truss bridges yet
saved in Pennsylvania, and the FIRST in Western PA. It also is said to be the
very first such state-owned bridge in the commonwealth -- vs. wooden covered
bridges -- ever to be retired and preserved in-place. At the moment, while its
replacement is being completed 100 feet upstream, the existing structure remains
in the bridge inventory of PennDOT until it is formally vacated and conveyed,
later this summer. The good news is that, after a 33-month-long effort to save
it, the scheduled truss bridge razing and scrapping was successfully averted.
One more structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places gets to
survive.
Significantly, the footing for the cut-stone west abutment supporting the truss
rests within the canal basin of the 'Erie Extension' of the Beaver and Lake Erie
Canal (~1845-1871), between Beaver Falls and Erie, PA.
Now, county residents and tourists, alike, will soon have a truly special place
to take time out of their hectic lives to stop, relax and enjoy this graceful
bridge and its beautiful natural surroundings. They'll be able to picnic next
to it and then take a leisurely stroll (or wheelchair ride) across this
charming span to absorb and appreciate the dramatic geometry of its elegant,
Victorian-era architecture silhouetted against the sky. They'll also have a
chance to witness a lone Blue Heron flying just above the river's surface on its
morning and evening 'patrols', right under the bridge's open-grate steel deck.
There is a variety of other riparian wildlife along the river's banks to be
observed, and massive Silver Maple, Sycamore and Black Walnut trees form a
natural backdrop that graces the downstream side of the picturesque bridge.
Here is a 'thumbnail' background on this structure:
Located ~9 miles east of PA/OH state line, and ~1.5 miles
northeast of Greenville, Mercer County in PennDOT District 1-0.
Carried Williamson Road/SR 4006 over Little Shenango
River in Hempfield Township.
Single-lane, pin-connected,
126-foot-long Pratt through-truss erected by the Cleveland Bridge Company in
1898.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1988.
Worthy preservation candidate was offered to a responsible
party through PennDOT's Historic Bridge Marketing Program.
Remarkably good physical condition of metal truss, after
108 years of continuous service.
New replacement bridge built on different alignment,
roughly 100 feet upstream from and nearly parallel with Quaker Bridge.
Quaker Bridge remained in service during most of the
construction of the new Williamson Road stream crossing.
Span to be retired in-place and re-used
to provide pedestrian-only 'bridge park' over Little Shenango River.
Offers unique "context-sensitive design" mitigation for
adjacent, modern concrete beam replacement bridge.
Harmonious for over a century with both the built and natural environment at this site.
