Rating:
3 votes

Butler Bridge

Berkshire County, Massachusetts
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Photos 

General View From East Portal, Looking West

Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record

View photos at Library of Congress

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Pratt truss bridge over Housatonic River on Butler Road
Location
Stockbridge, Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Status
Open to pedestrians
History
Built 1881-82
Builders
- George S. Morison of New Bedford, Massachusetts (Engineer)
- J.H. Burghardt & Co. (Masonry)
- Morison, Field & Co. (Ironwork)
Design
Wrought-iron, pin-connected Pratt truss
Unique "suspended" design with top chords bearing on the substructure.
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 87.9 ft.
Total length: 91.9 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Lester Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+42.28683, -73.33230   (decimal degrees)
42°17'13" N, 73°19'56" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/637494/4682969 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Stockbridge
Inventory number
BH 49913 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 03/1990)
Substructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 19.4 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 1989)
40

Categories 

19th Century (6,139)
Berkshire County, Massachusetts (76)
Built 1882 (121)
Built during 1880s (1,633)
George S. Morison (29)
HAER documented (1,096)
J.H. Burghardt & Co. (1)
Massachusetts (942)
Morison, Field & Co. (1)
NR-eligible (3,966)
Open to pedestrians (3,496)
 Owned by township (2,284)
Pin-connected (3,135)
Pony truss (15,003)
Pratt pony truss (3,152)
Pratt truss (7,946)
Span length 75-100 feet (5,739)
Stockbridge, Massachusetts (5)
Structurally deficient (18,337)
Total length 75-100 feet (5,875)
Truss (29,327)
Wrought Iron (364)

Update Log 

  • April 16, 2017: New photos from Chester Gehman
  • January 22, 2017: New photos from Chester Gehman
  • May 29, 2014: Updated by Chester Gehman: Changed Design to "Bedstead Truss"
  • October 25, 2011: Added by James Baughn

Related Bridges 

  • Fosnaugh Bridge (Same design) - Borneman's 1879 Patent Low Suspension Bridge.

Sources 

  • HAER MA-115 - Butler Bridge, Spans Housatonic River on Butler Road (North Glendale Road), Stockbridge, Berkshire County, MA
  • Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com
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Comments 

Butler Bridge
Posted May 30, 2014, by Matt Lohry

This is seemingly highly uncommon in pony truss configurations like this, but it's much more common in deck trusses, particularly approach spans as on the BNSF's Rock Island Bridge:

http://bridgehunter.com/wa/douglas/rock-island-railroad/

The deck is on top of the structure rather than passing through it, but all in all, both structure types appear to be constructed to handle loads in exactly the same manner. Very cool to see this in a pony truss!

Butler Bridge
Posted May 30, 2014, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

I totally agree Nathan...definitely not a bedstead.

This looks similar to an August Borneman 1879 patent that I believe was referred to as a "Suspension Truss". Several of these were built in and around Fairfield County, Ohio but I'm not sure that any remain.

Definitely very rare and unique!

Butler Bridge
Posted May 29, 2014, by Nathan Holth (webmaster [at] historicbridges [dot] org)

This is a beautiful and fascinating bridge and one of the most interesting I have seen. However, I don't know that I would describe it as a bedstead. It appears to me to be the opposite of a bedstead truss. Instead of having a superstructure (end post) that extends below the roadway, reducing the size of the substructure, this bridge appears to have a superstructure that reduces the size of (actually eliminates) a traditional end post and instead has a substructure that extends above the deck to meet the bearing location which is well above the roadway.