Rating:
3 votes

Bridge Street Bridge

Dutchess County, New York

Photos 

Photo taken by Chris P

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BH Photo #394340

Map 

Street View 

Documents 

City Of Beacon Professional Service Agreement Bridge Street Bridge Fishkill Creek

PDF (84 KB)

Provided by the City of Beacon; Posted by Luke

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Description 

This structure is a single-span, Whipple-type truss built by the New York Bridge Company in 1879. It connects the south end of the Groveville Carpet Mill (Survey Nos. 59, 60) with a historic residential neighborhood on the south side of the creek. It incorporates pin-connected members in the deck structure, ornate tracery in the portal braces, a wood plank deck and it still retains its original builder's plate. The structure appears to be unaltered. The bridge is currently closed to all but foot traffic. This bridge may have been built in collaboration with the Village of Matteawan at the behest of Charles M. Wolcott, who owned the adjacent Groveville Carpet Mill, as a means of mill worker access across the creek. Squire Whipple (1804-1888), who lived much of his life in New York, is considered the father of American iron bridge building and was the first to apply mathematics to calculate bridge member stresses. This is a rare surviving unaltered 1870s highway bridge, of an unusual proprietary bridge design, designed by a known and important bridge designer, and possibly a hybrid material structure containing both wrought iron and steel members. The Bridge Street Bridge is not listed in the NYS DOT Historic Bridge Inventory.

From Fishkill Creek Greenway & Heritage Trail Master Plan

Facts 

Overview
Abandoned Whipple through truss bridge over Fishkill Creek on Bridge Street in Beacon.
Location
Beacon, Dutchess County, New York
Status
Abandoned
History
Built 1879
Builder
- New York Bridge Co. of New York City, New York
Design
Whipple through truss with 8 panels, almost certainly wrought iron with cast components.
Also called
Fishkill Creek Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.51190, -73.94915   (decimal degrees)
41°30'43" N, 73°56'57" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
18/587691/4596118 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Wappingers Falls
Inventory number
BH 72913 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (8,734)
Abandoned (3,944)
Beacon, New York (9)
Built 1879 (113)
Built during 1870s (1,334)
Dutchess County, New York (144)
Have street view (29,297)
New York (4,911)
New York Bridge Co. (2)
 Owned by city (6,119)
Pin-connected (4,911)
Stone Abutments (152)
Through truss (17,318)
Truss (36,092)
Whipple truss (476)
Wooden deck (6,179)
Wrought Iron (421)

Update Log 

  • November 13, 2021: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
  • August 8, 2020: New photos from Chester Gehman
  • June 1, 2020: New photos from Patrick Gurwell
  • February 8, 2020: New photo from Art Suckewer
  • August 22, 2018: New photos from Michael Kochler
  • June 15, 2018: Updated by Luke: Updated future prospects: City is looking to rehab
  • June 15, 2018: Updated by Royce and Bobette Haley: Added category "Stone Abutments"
  • June 16, 2017: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added categories "Pin-connected", "Wrought Iron"
  • June 15, 2017: New photo from Luke
  • August 3, 2016: Updated by Tony Dillon: Added description
  • August 3, 2016: Updated by Luke: Added builder + date from Fishkill Creek Greenway & Heritage Trail Master Plan
  • July 25, 2016: New Street View added by Luke

Sources 

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Comments 

Bridge Street Bridge
Posted February 25, 2017, by Chris P (thatcrispykid [at] yahoo [dot] com)

I walked over it today, the wood deck feels solid (though there are a few tiny holes that allow you to look into the creek). Anyone know when and why the bridge closed?

Bridge Street Bridge
Posted August 3, 2016, by ArtS (asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com)

Spectacular! Great find!!

Regards,

Art S.

Bridge Street Bridge
Posted August 3, 2016, by Robert Elder (robertelder1 [at] gmail [dot] com)

WOW! This is an awesome bridge. I believe that it is just about the smallest Whipple that I have seen. In this case, it's small size adds interest, because a span of this length would often be a Pratt.

Look at those portals!

Bridge Street Bridge
Posted August 3, 2016, by Tony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Definitely a Whipple, and a beauty at that!

Almost certainly wrought iron from the 1870-1880 period. Also has finials and nice cast components. Verticals are very light and tightly composed. A real Gem that needs to be fixed-up and shown off!

Bridge Street Bridge
Posted August 3, 2016, by Clark Vance (cvance [at] dogmail [dot] com)

Whipple? Any guesses as to maker?