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Darden Road Bridge (Old)

St. Joseph County, Indiana

Photo 

What appears to be the old bridge on the left.

Old and older...

Photo uploaded by Art S.

Enlarge

View this photo at www2.sjcpl.org

BH Photo #480382

Map 

Description 

From Engineering News June 19, 1880

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Engineering_News/hSdKAQ...

"DH & CC Morrison of the Columbia Bridge Works Dayton Ohio have been awarded the contract for a bridge over the St Joseph River between German and Clay townships St Joseph County Ind for $2,380"

I have assumed the location due to the description in Nathan's entry on his website (Historicbridges.org), where it states that Darden was the only crossing of the St. Joseph between Clay and German townships. Prior to that, I had considered Brick Road and Cleveland Road as possibilities but Nathan's info makes this the likely location. Meaning the bridge was lost prior to July 24, 1906 when the P.E. Lane bridge was moved here from Water (now La Salle) St.

Facts 

Overview
Lost Pratt pony truss bridge over St. Joseph River on Darden Road
Location
South Bend, St. Joseph County, Indiana
Status
No longer exists
History
Built 1880
Builders
- Columbia Bridge Works of Dayton, Ohio (also known as)
- D.H. & C.C. Morrison of Dayton, Ohio [also known as Columbia Bridge Works]
Design
Appears to have been a combination (wood and iron) structure.
Also called
Four Mile Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.73013, -86.26870   (decimal degrees)
41°43'48" N, 86°16'07" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/560819/4620071 (zone/easting/northing)
Inventory number
BH 90438 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (9,637)
Built 1880 (215)
Built during 1880s (2,394)
Columbia Bridge Works (105)
D.H. & C.C. Morrison (90)
Indiana (5,237)
Lost (31,822)
 Pony truss (17,555)
Pratt pony truss (4,132)
Pratt truss (10,848)
South Bend, Indiana (23)
St. Joseph County, Indiana (41)
Truss (38,327)

Update Log 

  • August 31, 2020: Updated by Art Suckewer: Changed truss type and configuration

Sources 

  • Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com
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Comments 

Darden Road Bridge (?) (first?)
Posted August 31, 2020, by Art S. (Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Also, prior, all-wood bridges would be likely.

Darden Road Bridge (?) (first?)
Posted August 31, 2020, by Art S. (Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Tony,

I think you're right about the wood! I was staring at the compression members and was wondering about the 'massive channel iron' and wood never registered. CBW did offer wood and combination bridges.

Regards,

Art S.

PS. Jefferson Ave. in South Bend appears to have had a 4 Pratt pony + 2 stringer bridge in the 1874 image I posted.

Darden Road Bridge (?) (first?)
Posted August 31, 2020, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Those appear to be combination (wood & iron) pony trusses. Preble County, Ohio used to have several of them, and it wouldn't come as a surprise to me if CBW didn't offer them as perhaps a cheaper option. With what would have likely been 4 or more spans, I wonder if a much older structure was here previous. The cost of a multi-span stone substructure in 1880 would have far exceeded the cost of the bridge superstructure.