Great Bridge (1884)

Photo

September, 1931-bridge will be replaced along with demolition of adjacent Berkshire Street Railway bridge.

Courtesy Gary Leveille; The Berkshire Edge-John Taylor photo.

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BH Photo #493867

Map

Maps and Databases

Description

There has been a river crossing ar this point since the 18th Century. The first iron bridge was put up in about 1868 and was a Truesdell Patent Truss. Unfortunaely, after a few years the bridge became unstable, and in May of 1884 the town decided to replace it with one from the Berlin Iron Bridge Co, a lenticular truss which was in turn replaced in 1931.

Facts

Overview: Lost Lenticular pony truss bridge over Housatonic River on State Road (future US-7) in Great Barrington.
Location: Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Status: Replaced by a new bridge
History: Built 1884, replaced 1931
Builder: - Berlin Iron Bridge Co. of East Berlin, Connecticut
Design: Lenticular pony truss
Also called: Great Barrington Bridge
State Road Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude: +42.20141, -73.35785 (decimal degrees)
42°12'05" N, 73°21'28" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates: 18/635570/4673444 (zone/easting/northing)
Inventory number: BH 92537 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Update Log

November 19, 2021: Updated by Art Suckewer: added loss date to history
April 5, 2021: Added by Chester Gehman
March 31, 2021: New photo from Chester Gehman

Related Bridges

Housatonic River Bridge (1931) (Successor)
Great Bridge (1868) (Predecessor)

Sources

Chester Gehman - gehmanc2000 [at] yahoo [dot] com
The colorful history of the Great Scarlet Bridge - The Berkshire Edge - Bernard Drew's article in The Berkshire Edge
Art Suckewer - Asuckewer [at] knite [dot] com