October 2004
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To visit past Bridges of the month, click on the links above.
October 2004:  Three Wrought and Cast Iron Bridges                Hunterdon County, NJ
 

This month features three related bridges in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, all three designed by Francis C. Lowthrop and built by William Cowin.  These are the School Street Bridge in Glen Gardner (1870), the West Main Street Bridge in Clinton (1870), and the Musconetcong Bridge in New Hampton (1868).  All are pony truss bridges made of wrought and cast iron.  To the left is the West Main Street Bridge.  The Historic American Engineering Record (calling this the Lawthrop Bridge), states that this "represents an early type of iron truss that dominated bridge construction from the 1850s to the 1870s." Alternative names are listed in the HAER for the School Street Bridge and Musconetcong Bridge as well.  These have Pratt Trusses, in which iron diagonal members absorb tensile forces.  A "pony" bridge means there is no top chord across.