Rating:
80157
{5}%
1 vote
Hartford Toll Bridge (1818)
Description
A covered bridge with two roadways separated by a third arch in the middle. Four feet were added to the height of the old piers for greater clearance in times of flood. Despite this precaution, in January of 1839, a storm of wind and rain raised the level of the river high enough that ice swept away one of the spans on the East Hartford side. Traffic was forced to travel north to Enfield in order to cross the river.
On May 17, 1895, a blaze started near the East Hartford end and quickly engulfed the entire bridge, destroying it totally. A temporary bridge was constructed upstream and opened June 8, 1895.
In May, 1889, the bridge was bought by the State and the neighboring towns and made free to the public.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Burr arch through truss bridge connecting the towns of Hartford and East Hartford.
- Location
- East Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut
- Status
- Destroyed by fire
- History
- Built 1818; Destroyed by fire 1895; replaced
- Design
- Burr arch-truss
- Also called
- Hartford Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.76957, -72.66560 (decimal degrees)
41°46'10" N, 72°39'56" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/694031/4626826 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Hartford North
- Inventory number
- BH 80157 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- March 13, 2020: New photos from Chester Gehman
- January 19, 2018: Added by Dave King
Sources
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com