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Five Stone Arch Bridges is a cluster of stone arch bridges in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, United States that have been designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers. [1]
The stone arch bridges were built during the 19th century, when there was a need for sturdier construction to replace weaker wooden bridges. The design required exceptional skill by stonecutters. Each stone had to fit just right. At one time there were twelve stone arch bridges in Hillsborough. [2] The designation of the five remaining structures as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2002 had much to do with their close proximity to one another.
Fred Rhyner, a member of the ASCE New Hampshire Section and a vice president at Haley & Aldrich Engineering in Manchester, filed the nomination application for the historic landmark. His interest in the remarkable cluster of stone arch bridges began while he was working on a New Hampshire DOT bridge project on the Second New Hampshire Turnpike in 1996. It took three years to gather all the information together. The application was filed in 1999.
The Hillsborough town website states that the arch bridge near U.S. Route 202 (Sawyer Bridge) "is going to become the focal point of a public park," [3] although it is unclear if there are active plans to do this. Selectman Robert Buker described the park surrounding the stone arch bridge at Route 202 as an attempt to balance commercial growth on the west end of town with historic preservation.[ citation needed ] A New Hampshire historical marker and an ASCE landmark plaque for the stone arch bridges are both located near Sawyer Bridge. [4]
| Name | Coordinates | Built | Crosses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carr Bridge | 43°7′49″N71°56′41″W / 43.13028°N 71.94472°W | mid-1800s | Beards Brook |
| Gleason Falls Bridge | 43°8′37″N71°57′21″W / 43.14361°N 71.95583°W | ca. 1830 | Beards Brook |
| Gleason Falls Road over Beards Brook | 43°8′42″N71°57′34″W / 43.14500°N 71.95944°W | mid-1800s | Beards Brook |
| Second New Hampshire Turnpike Bridge Bridge at Fuller's Tannery | 43°6′41″N71°56′35″W / 43.11139°N 71.94306°W | ca. 1864 | North Branch River |
| Sawyer Bridge | 43°6′41″N71°55′08″W / 43.11139°N 71.91889°W | ca. 1866 | Contoocook River |
The National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the 620-mile (1,000 km) road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main transport path to the West for thousands of settlers. When improved in the 1830s, it became the second U.S. road surfaced with the macadam process pioneered by Scotsman John Loudon McAdam.
The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad constructed through the Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania, United States; it operated from 1834 to 1854 as the first transportation infrastructure through the gaps of the Allegheny that connected the midwest to the eastern seaboard across the barrier range of the Allegheny Front. Approximately 36 miles (58 km) long overall, both ends connected to the Pennsylvania Canal, and the system was primarily used as a portage railway, hauling river boats and barges over the divide between the Ohio and the Susquehanna Rivers. Today, the remains of the railroad are preserved within the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site operated by the National Park Service.
Hillsborough, frequently spelled Hillsboro, is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,939 at the 2020 census. The town is home to Fox State Forest and part of Low State Forest.
The Bidwell Bar Bridge, in Oroville, California, refers to two suspension bridges that cross different parts of Lake Oroville. The original Bidwell Bar Bridge was the first steel suspension bridge in California. The $35,000, 240-foot-long (73 m) original was completed in December 1855, and was built of materials transported from Troy, New York, via Cape Horn. Most of the money was put up by Judge Joseph Lewis, a Virginian who moved to Bidwell's Bar in 1849. The bridge originally crossed the Middle Fork Feather River and is the only one of several suspension bridges built in the area in the 1850s that still remains. It remained open to vehicle traffic until 1954.
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Starrucca Viaduct is a stone arch bridge that spans Starrucca Creek near Lanesboro, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Completed in 1848 at a cost of $320,000, it was at the time the world's largest stone railway viaduct and was thought to be the most expensive railway bridge as well. Still in use, the viaduct is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.
Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct is a concrete deck arch bridge on the Nicholson Cutoff rail segment of the Norfolk Southern Railway Sunbury Line that spans Tunkhannock Creek in Nicholson, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Measuring 2,375 feet (724 m) long and towering 240 feet (73.15 m) when measured from the creek bed, it was the largest concrete structure in the world when completed in 1915 and still merited "the title of largest concrete bridge in America, if not the world" 50 years later.
The Franklin Pierce Homestead is a historic house museum and state park located in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. It was the childhood home of the fourteenth president of the United States, Franklin Pierce.
Canterbury Shaker Village is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire, United States. It was one of a number of Shaker communities founded in the 19th century.
Squire Whipple was an American civil engineer.
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The Bridgeport Covered Bridge is located in Bridgeport, Nevada County, California, southwest of French Corral and north of Lake Wildwood. It is used as a pedestrian crossing over the South Yuba River. The bridge was built in 1862 by David John Wood. Its lumber came from Plum Valley in Sierra County, California. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic in 1972 and pedestrian traffic in 2011 due to deferred maintenance and "structural problems".
The Union Arch Bridge, also called the "Cabin John Bridge", is a historic masonry structure in Cabin John, Maryland. It was designed as part of the Washington Aqueduct. The bridge construction began in 1857 and was completed in 1864. The roadway surface was added later. The bridge was designed by Alfred Landon Rives, and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers under the direction of Lieutenant Montgomery C. Meigs.
The Casselman Bridge is an historic transportation structure on the Casselman River, located immediately east of Grantsville in Garrett County, Maryland. The bridge was built in 1813-1814 as part of the National Road. Historic markers posted at each end read:
Erected 1813 by David Shriver, Jr.,
Sup't of the "Cumberland Road". This 80 foot span
was the largest stone arch in America
at the time. It was continuously
used from 1813 to 1933.
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The Marshall Building, formerly known as the Hoffman & Sons Co. Building, is a historic building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Part of the Historic Third Ward, the six-story building is the oldest existing example of structural engineer Claude A. P. Turner's Spiral Mushroom System of flat-slab concrete reinforcement.