Rating:
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NH - Triple Bridge
Photos
Historical Photo
Source: Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges (company pamphlet), 1908
BH Photo #207090
Description
This bridge was the oldest surviving Scherzer Rolling Lift Bascule bridge when demolished. The bridge was noted for its unique trio of skewed spans and was the first Scherzer bascule built outside of Chicago.Facts
- Overview
- Lost Warren through truss Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge over Fort Point Channel on Railroad (Amtrak and MBTA)
- Location
- Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
- Status
- Replaced by new fixed span
- History
- Built 1899
- Builder
- - Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois
- Railroads
- - Amtrak (AMTK)
- Boston & Maine Railroad (BM)
- Commuter Rail
- Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
- New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
- Design
- Warren through truss with riveted connections, single leaf Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge. Consisted of three parallel skewed bridges. Skew is 42 degrees.
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 98.8 ft.
Total length: 114.0 ft.
- Also called
- NH - Fort Point Channel Bridge
NH Bridge 0.44 - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.34550, -71.05821 (decimal degrees)
42°20'44" N, 71°03'30" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 19/330466/4690189 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Boston South
- Inventory number
- BH 49279 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Sources
- Nathan Holth
- HAER MA-35 - New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Fort Point Channel Rolling Lift Bridge, Spanning Fort Point Channel, Boston, Suffolk County, MA
- Douglas Butler
- Dana and Kay Klein
Comments
New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Bridge
The demolition of this truly unique and highly significant Scherzer rolling lift bascule bridge which occurred sometime after the HAER documentation was truly an atrocity.
The historical photo showing these three parallel but skewed bridges raised is one of my all-time favorite historical photos, since it is such a unique and striking shot. Its photo #1 in the BridgeHunter gallery.
Google maps shows a tiny park next to the former location of this bridge (now replaced by something modern and ugly). The park is named "Rolling Bridge Park." Unfortunately the name today probably has little meaning to anyone since the park's namesake is gone.
© Copyright 2021, Historic Bridge Foundation and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ma/suffolk/bh49279/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ma/suffolk/bh49279/
Thank you for keeping photos of the Fort Point Channel (Scherzer) rolling lift bridge on your web site.
Your site credits the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) for the photos. However, these photos are only archived as part of the HABS/HAER collection at the Library of Congress. They actually were commissioned by the Massachusetts DOT (formerly Mass. Highway/Mass. Turnpike Authority), and were probably taken by Martin Stupich, one of the best engineering archival photographers working.
Photography (to HAER standards) has been required of agencies and others who must demolish historic structures under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, but it's important to remember that it's photographers like Stupich who actually take the photos, and federal and state taxpayers who pay for them. The rest of us get free access through the Library of Congress, and get to enjoy the photos - it's only right that those who created them and paid for them get some credit.