Rating:
1 vote
ADBF - South Branch Raisin River Stone Arch
Facts
- Overview
- Stone arch bridge over South Branch Raisin River on Adrian & Blissfield Railroad (formerly NYC RR)
- Location
- Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1867
- Builder
- - E. W. Ensign
- Railroads
- - Adrian & Blissfield Railroad (ADBF)
- Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad (LS&MS)
- New York Central Railroad (NYC)
- Design
- Stone arch
- Also called
- Adrian Railroad Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.88962, -84.04628 (decimal degrees)
41°53'23" N, 84°02'47" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/745054/4641740 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Adrian
- Inventory number
- BH 52033 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- December 7, 2020: New photo from Luke
- June 19, 2016: Updated by Alexander D. Mitchell IV: Corrected RR reporting marks
- October 11, 2014: New photos from Janis Ford
- June 26, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added category "Adrian & Blissfield Railroad"
- April 11, 2012: Added by Frank Hicks
Sources
- Frank Hicks
- Adrian Railroad Bridge - HistoricBridges.org
- Janis Ford
- Alexander D. Mitchell IV
- Luke
Comments
ADBF - South Branch Raisin River Stone Arch
This is one of the most significant bridges in southern Michigan, both for its age, its association with the state's first railroad, and for being one of only a few large-scale stone arch bridges in the state. It may be the second oldest bridge in Michigan. I am not 100% sure on that, but so far the only Michigan bridge that I have discovered to be older is the Ackley Covered Bridge, which was built in 1832 in Pennsylvania and moved to Greenfield Village in 1937. So if that is considered cheating since it was built in another state, the Adrian bridge may "just possibly" be truly the oldest in Michigan. Further research is needed to confirm this, however.
Adrian Railroad Bridge
Photos taken 9/27/09
© Copyright 2021, Historic Bridge Foundation and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mi/lenawee/adrian-railroad/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mi/lenawee/adrian-railroad/
Paul,
Not counting covered bridges, this is the oldest bridge I have associated a construction date with in Michigan. Unless there are other stone rail bridges hidden away in less visible locations that we do not know of, this could indeed be the oldest.