Berkheimer Bridge
Description
According to county records, Mark Berkhimer and others petitioned the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors for a bridge at this site in 1892, but the petition was not granted. In 1898 a report recommending a bridge at this site was approved. Bids for construction of the bridge were received on June 6, 1899, with eight companies submitting proposals. Most of the bidders offered more than one design. The contract was awarded to the Clinton Bridge and Iron Works for $2,836 for their Plan #4, which called for a 170-foot truss with two 32-foot approaches. Apparently the bridge was finished later in the year. The Berkhimer Bridge is one of six through-truss bridges in the county and the only one with the Pennsylvania design. Pennsylvania through trusses are relatively rare in the state, and this particular bridge retains very good design integrity [adapted from Johnson 1992].Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over West Fork Des Moines River on 215th Street west of Humboldt
- Location
- Humboldt County, Iowa
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1899 by the Clinton Bridge & Iron Works; closed 2001; rehabilitated 2005
- Builder
- - Clinton Bridge & Iron Works of Clinton, Iowa
- Design
- Pin-connected, 10-panel Pennsylvania through truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 170.0 ft.
Total length: 253.0 ft.
Deck width: 15.1 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 14.4 ft.
- Recognition
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on May 15, 1998
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.73888, -94.25366 (decimal degrees)
42°44'20" N, 94°15'13" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 15/397383/4732579 (zone/easting/northing)
- Land survey
- T. 92 N., R. 29 W., Sec. 34
- USGS topographic map
- Unique
- Inventory numbers
- IA 184870 (Iowa bridge number)
NRHP 98000523 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 13652 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 11/2010)
- Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 23.9 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
- 70
Update Log
- October 26, 2012: Updated by Jason Smith: Added category "A-frame portal"
- September 8, 2011: New photos from Jason Smith
- July 26, 2011: Updated by Luke Harden: Added description
- April 15, 2010: New photo from Jay Rush
- October 10, 2005: Posted photos from Jason Smith
Sources
- Jason Smith - JDSmith77 [at] gmx [dot] net
- Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
Comments
Here in Humboldt we call it the Bloody Run.
Carolyn
P.S. I think your site is wonderful. I am putting a link to your site on our Humboldt County Historical Assn web site www.humboldtiowahistory.org
Hope that is okay with you.
The old farm home near the bridge belongs to Polly Berkheimer who grew up there. I visited Polly in 2007 when she was 93 because I found I'm related to her. My grandparents were married on this farm in 1902. This is a very beautiful spot.
I jumped from it... I grew up in the town around the 70's. Never really thought of the bridge as historical..just thought, "Oh man, we have to drive over the bridge that might collapse" when I was a kid. Humboldt is a beautiful town with much more to offer than see!! I wish I could have raised my own child there.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ia/humboldt/berkheimer/