McClays East Twin Bridge

Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Photos

Facing west, downstream (north)

The West Bridge of the Twin Bridges is in background

Photo taken by Jodi Christman

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Description

For more info: http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa3500/pa3575/data/pa3575.pdf The Maclay's Mill Twin Bridges are outstanding examples of surviving stone arch bridges constructed by a nineteenth-century designer-craftsperson. Before the appearance of professional engineers and architects during the middle of the nineteenth century, local craftspeople such as Silas Harry were responsible for the design and construction of vernacular bridges such as the Maclay's Mill Twin Bridges. No fewer than six Franklin County stone arch bridges have been attributed to Harry. An active stonemason throughout much ofthe first half of the nineteenth century, Harry also was responsible for the 1842 reconstruction of the Franklin County courthouse. The Maclay's Mill Twin Bridges were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The bridges are also significant for their association with the Maclay family. David Maclay, the owner of Maclay's Mill at the time the bridges were built, was a prominent Franklin County landowner and former Pennsylvania legislator. Also, Maclay�a second generation owner of the mill�was the nephew of William Maclay, Peimsylvania's first U.S. Senator.

Maclay's Mill, Twin Bridge (East) is a three-span, camelback, closed-spandrei stone arch bridge. Constructed of semi-coursed local limestone rubble and blocks, the bridge is 173'-7" long and an average of 20'-9" wide with a single i6'-4" travel lane. The bridge spans Conodoguinet Creek on a perpendicular alignment and rests on two 6'-0"-wide conical piers. Its approaches have abutments with wing wails that expand to widths of 26'-0" on the west and 25'-0" on the east.

The stone with which the bridge is constructed is a weathered Cambro-Ordovician limestone, a fossiliferous dark blue-black limestone that weathers to a lighter tan color.' Its three segmental arches have spans, measured from east to west, of 29'-l", 32'-7-l/2", and 28-10-1/2". The arches rise, again from east to west, 6'-10", 8'-0-l/2", and 6'-2-3/4". There is a rectangular marble date stone set into the bridge's north parapet at mid-span. The inscription reads: "BUILT BY SILAS HARRY / 1827 / COMMISSIONERS / BENJAMIN KEYSER / WILLIAM REYNOLDS / WILLIAM HEYSER / To Roxberry 4 Miles / to Shippensburg 4 Miles." There are directional arrows pointing toward Shippensburg and Roxbury.

The bridge's three segmental arches are defined by dressed squared voussoirs and dressed springers. Keystones in each arch ring are not accentuated. Each arch ring was constructed with regular coursed ashlar blocks. The intrados of each arch barrel has been clad in cement. The masonry joints have been repointed with a hai*d cement mortar throughout much of the structure in a raised, irregular pattern. The bridge's parapets have a single 2"-thick limestone coping course that is clad in cement. The north parapet has a low elevation above the road bed: measured at the west end, mid-span, and east end (the west end being datum), it rises 4'-5", 6'-4", and 2'-6".

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts

Overview: Stone arch bridge over a branch of Conodoguinet Creek on McClays Mill Road (PA 4018)
Location: Franklin County, Pennsylvania
Status: Open to traffic
History: Built 1827 by Silas Harry
Builder: - Silas Harry
Design: Stone arch
Dimensions: Length of largest span: 20.0 ft.
Total length: 44.9 ft.
Deck width: 16.7 ft.
Recognition: Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988
Approximate latitude, longitude: +40.09694, -77.57028 (decimal degrees)
40°05'49" N, 77°34'13" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 18/280899/4441683 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map: Shippensburg
Inventory numbers: PA 28 4018 0062 0000 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
NRHP 88000777 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
PANBI 17609 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 30949 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 08/2009): Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Appraisal: Functionally obsolete
Sufficiency rating: 61.6 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2010): 289

Update Log

May 20, 2012: New photos from Jodi Christman
April 20, 2012: Photo imported by Jodi Christman
June 5, 2011: New photos from Jodi Christman
November 28, 2010: New photos from Jodi Christman
October 30, 2010: Updated by Jodi Christman: Added more info. about bridge
September 9, 2010: New photos from Jodi Christman

Sources

Jodi Christman - masterofchaos [at] outlook [dot] com