Walnut Lane Bridge

Last updated
Walnut Lane Bridge
Walnut Lane Bridge (cropped).jpg
Coordinates 40°01′55″N75°12′00″W / 40.032°N 75.2°W / 40.032; -75.2
Crosses Wissahickon Creek
Locale Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Maintained by City of Philadelphia
Characteristics
Design concrete
Total length585 feet (178 m)
Width48 feet (15 m)
Height147 feet (45 m)
Longest span233 feet (71 m)
History
Construction cost$260,000 ($5 Million Today)
OpenedOctober 14, 1908
Walnut Lane Bridge
Location Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States
Coordinates 40°01′56″N75°11′59″W / 40.03222°N 75.19972°W / 40.03222; -75.19972
Built1907
ArchitectGeorge S. Webster (chief)
Henry H. Quimby (assistant)
NRHP reference No. 88000815 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 10, 1988
Designated PHMCOctober 18, 2008 [2]
Location
Walnut Lane Bridge

The Walnut Lane Bridge is a concrete arch bridge located in Northwest Philadelphia that connects the Germantown and Roxborough neighborhoods across the Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park. [3] While drivers may cross the bridge too quickly to notice, the view from underneath the bridge has inspired many artists and writers, such as Christopher Morley. [4] The design was copied from Pont Adolphe in Luxembourg. [5]

Contents

The Walnut Lane Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. [6]

Construction

Construction began on July 5, 1906, and was completed on October 14, 1908. Over 40,000 tons of rubble concrete (containing a great amount of large stones, for greater shear strength) were poured into the falsework, which had been built from steel bents 20 feet (6.1 m) high and 370,000 board feet (870 m3) of timber, weighing about 900 tons. [7] The bridge's six spans total 585 ft in length (178 m). Very little use was made of reinforcing steel, which was scarce at the time. The roadway is 40 ft (12 m) wide, flanked by 10-foot (3.0 m) reinforced-concrete sidewalks and pre-cast concrete balustrades. [8]

The chief engineer was George S. Webster, assisted by Henry Quimby, both of the Philadelphia Department of Public Works. At the time of its construction, the bridge was the longest and highest concrete arch bridge in the world. [9] While $240,000 was originally committed to the project, the figure rose to nearly $260,000 by completion (equivalent to nearly $6 million in 2008).

City Beautiful Movement

The bridge was a direct product of the City Beautiful Movement in Philadelphia in the early years of the 20th century. Seeking to provide community harmony and cooperation through improved public spaces, the bridge was viewed as an achievement that could unite the communities and cultures of Roxborough and Germantown in addition to inspiring a greater civic engagement. It was also believed that more beautiful construction techniques could help to reform a corrupt political system within the city. The Philadelphia community members rallied around the construction of the bridge and the opening was highly anticipated by all ages alike.

Opening

The bridge was opened on October 14, 1908, and was formally dedicated on December 16 of the same year. Students from nearby schools participated in the dedication ceremony by marching toward the middle of the bridge and singing "Hail Philadelphia." [10] The ceremony ended with a reception at a local inn with the traditional Wissahickon meal of catfish and waffles.

Tragedy at the Walnut Lane Bridge

A lantern slide showing the construction of the Walnut Lane Bridge. WalnutLaneB3.jpg
A lantern slide showing the construction of the Walnut Lane Bridge.

The Walnut Lane Bridge has a history of tragedies and deaths since construction began in 1906. In December 1907, the falsework (used to support the forms for pouring concrete) collapsed and sent about 20 workers plunging 150 feet (46 m) into the Wissahickon Creek. Martin Simpson was listed as the only worker to die during the tragedy while Bernard Mers lost an arm and James Lawson had both of his hands crushed. The crash drew neighbors out of their homes, as the sound could be heard throughout the valley.

Throughout the rest of the 20th century, stories of car crashes and suicides abound for the Walnut Lane Bridge. It was a common occurrence to see pictures of the bridge in the newspapers with a dotted line showing the path of a person's fall. [11] [12]

Centennial celebration

A rare lantern slide which will be part of the Walnut Lane Bridge Centennial exhibition. WalnutLaneB4.jpg
A rare lantern slide which will be part of the Walnut Lane Bridge Centennial exhibition.

In 2008, Cliveden, a National Historic Landmark and museum in Germantown owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the completion of the bridge. Only a few blocks from the Walnut Lane Bridge, Cliveden hosted an exhibition and educational program on the construction of the bridge, featuring a collection of rare lantern slides. The exhibit ran from May through October. [13]

Other bridges confused with the Walnut Lane Bridge

The Walnut Lane Bridge is often confused with other bridges in Philadelphia that are similar in name and construction. The Walnut Street Bridge crosses the Schuylkill River and connects University City, Philadelphia and Center City, Philadelphia. The nearby Wissahickon Memorial Bridge (aka Henry Avenue Bridge), which connects the East Falls and Roxborough neighborhoods of Philadelphia, is also often mistaken for the Walnut Lane Bridge. But the bridge most often confused with the Walnut Lane Bridge is the Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge, which replaced a cast-iron bridge over the Monoshone Creek and Lincoln Drive in Philadelphia in 1950 and is world-famous as a pre-stressed, post-tension concrete bridge. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, United States

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for the high incomes of its residents and high real estate values, as well as its private schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxborough, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Roxborough is a neighborhood in the Northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is bordered to the southwest, along the Schuylkill River, by the neighborhood of Manayunk, along the northeast by the Wissahickon Creek section of Fairmount Park, and to the southeast by the neighborhood of East Falls. Beyond Roxborough to the northwest is Montgomery County. Roxborough's ZIP code is 19128. Most of Roxborough is in Philadelphia's 21st Ward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon Creek</span> Creek in Philadelphia

Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River in Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manayunk, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, United States

Manayunk is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania. Located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Wissahickon and also on the banks of the Schuylkill River, Manayunk contains the first canal begun in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Airy, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Mount Airy is a neighborhood of Northwest Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Falls, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

East Falls is a neighborhood in Lower Northwest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in 1822 by the Schuylkill Canal and Fairmount Water Works projects. East Falls sits next to the Germantown, Roxborough, Allegheny West, and the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhoods. Wissahickon Valley Park separates it from Manayunk, Philadelphia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poquessing Creek</span> United States historic place

Poquessing Creek is a 10.3-mile-long (16.6 km) creek, a right tributary of the Delaware River, that forms the boundary between Philadelphia and Bensalem Township, which borders it to the northeast along the Delaware. It has defined this boundary between Bucks and Philadelphia counties since 1682.

Andorra is a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia, which is a section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Andorra is a part of Roxborough, being within the borders of the original Roxborough Township and having the same zip code (19128). At some point during the 19th or 20th century, Andorra developed a cultural identity as a neighborhood within Roxborough. Andorra was named "Andorra" after a fancied resemblance to the small country of the same name which sits astride the Pyrenees between France and Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolphe Bridge</span> Double-decked arch bridge in Luxembourg City

The Adolphe Bridge is a double-decked arch bridge in Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. The bridge provides a one-way route for road traffic across the Pétrusse, from Boulevard Royal, in Ville Haute, to Avenue de la Liberté, in Gare. Its upper deck is 153 m in length and carries two lanes of road traffic, and two pedestrian footpaths. Its lower deck, opened in 2018, suspended beneath the upper deck, is 154 m in length, and carries a dedicated bidirectional bicycle path, with access provided for pedestrian use. As of 13 December 2020, following the completion of the second phase of the construction of the city's new tramline, the bridge carries bidirectional tram traffic on its upper deck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monroe Street Bridge (Spokane, Washington)</span> Bridge in Washington, U.S.

The Monroe Street Bridge is a deck arch bridge in the northwestern United States that spans the Spokane River in Spokane, Washington. It was built 112 years ago in 1911 by the city of Spokane, and was designed by city engineer John Chester Ralston, assisted in construction supervision by Morton Macartney with ornamentation provided by the firm of Kirtland Kelsey Cutter and Karl G. Malmgren as part of Cutter & Malmgren.

Mom Rinker's Rock is a scenic outlook in Wissahickon Valley Park along the Wissahickon Creek in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on a ridge on the eastern side of the park just a little north of the Walnut Lane Bridge, close by the statue dedicated to Toleration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cresheim Creek</span>

Cresheim Creek is a creek in southeastern Pennsylvania. Rising at Wyndmoor in Springfield Township, it runs about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) southwest, passing through part of Northwest Philadelphia and forming the boundary between Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill, before emptying into the Wissahickon Creek at Devil's Pool not far south of the Valley Green Inn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon, Philadelphia</span> Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Wissahickon is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Wissahickon is located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, and it is bounded by the Wissahickon Valley Park, Ridge Avenue, Hermit Street, and Henry Avenue. The name of the neighborhood is derived from the Lenni Lenape word wisameckham, for "catfish creek", a reference to the fish that were once plentiful in the Wissahickon Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon Memorial Bridge</span> Bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Wissahickon Memorial Bridge, originally called and still also known as the Henry Avenue Bridge, is a stone and concrete bridge that carries Henry Avenue over Wissahickon Creek and Lincoln Drive in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girard Avenue Bridge</span> Bridge in Philadelphia

The Girard Avenue Bridge is an automobile and trolley bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that carries Girard Avenue over the Schuylkill River. It connects the east and west sections of Fairmount Park, and the Brewerytown neighborhood with the Philadelphia Zoo. The current bridge is the third built on the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perkiomen Bridge</span> United States historic place

The Perkiomen Bridge, originally built 1798-99 and widened in 1928, is one of the oldest stone arch bridges in the United States still in use. It crosses Perkiomen Creek near Collegeville, Pennsylvania. The bridge's six semi-circular arches cover a total of over 300 feet (91 m). The longest arch spans 76 feet (23 m). Its decorative piers and belts courses are unusual for a bridge this old. A lottery financed $20,000 of the original construction. The bridge carried the main road from Philadelphia to Reading, known at various times as the Manatawny Pike, Germantown Pike, the Philadelphia-Reading Pike, and US 422. Since the construction of the US 422 bypass, the road has been known as Ridge Pike or Old US 422.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wissahickon Valley Park</span>

Wissahickon Valley Park is a large urban park that is located in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It protects 2,042 acres (8.26 km2) of woodland surrounding the Wissahickon Creek between the Montgomery County border and the Schuylkill River. For several miles, the creek winds through a dramatic wooded gorge known as the Wissahickon Valley, a National Natural Landmark.

Blue Bell Hill Park commonly known as Blue Bell Park is a small park located in Blue Bell Hill by Germantown, Philadelphia. The park is located on the Wissahickon Creek and is directly southeast of Wissahickon Valley Park. The RittenhouseTown Historic District is located at Blue Bell Hill.

Ridge Pike is a major historic road in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that opened in 1706 that originally connected Wissahickon Creek to Perkiomen Creek. Inside Philadelphia, it is called Ridge Avenue. Going westward, it traverses many eastern Pennsylvania neighborhoods in Montgomery County including Conshohocken and beyond, connecting with Germantown Pike near Collegeville and continuing to Pottstown. In Montgomery County, Ridge Pike is called Main Street in the Norristown area and again in Collegeville and Trappe, and is called High Street in the Pottstown area.

References

  1. NRHP Listings
  2. "PHMC Historical Markers". Historical Marker Database. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission. Archived from the original on December 7, 2013. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  3. Fairmount Park at AOL Local Life [ dead link ]
  4. Morley, from "Up the Wissahickon," in Christopher Morley's Philadelphia (New York: Fordham Press, 1990) 217-218.
  5. "Walnut Lane Bridge". Structurae. Retrieved 2006-08-03.
  6. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  7. "Moving the Centering of the Walnut Lane Arch at Philadelphia", Engineering News, Vol. 58, no. 7, p. 169, 15 August 1907.
  8. George S. Webster and Henry H. Quimby, "Walnut Lane Bridge, Philadelphia", Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Vol. 65, no. 1128, p. 430, 1909.
  9. City of Philadelphia. Annual Report of the Director of the Department of Public Works. (1908).
  10. "Bridge's Marvels Extolled: Opening Exercises on New Walnut Lane Structure Which Has Largest Concrete Arch in Existence," Germantown Independent-Gazette, December 18, 1908.
  11. "Banking Official Plunges to Death from High Span," Philadelphia Inquirer, 11 June 1911, p. 1.
  12. "Quiet Observer," Beehive, 23, no. 4 (August 1933), p. 22.
  13. Walnut Lane Bridge website
  14. "A Balancing of Forces and Moments: The Walnut Lane Bridge", Discovery, Innovation, and Risk: Cade Studies in Science and Technology M.I.T. Press, 1993. 202-214.