Skip to main content

The Capital Region's Whipple Bridges

Image
By
Squire Whipple is considered "the father of the iron truss bridge".  The civil-engineer's design for bowstring truss wrought and cast iron bridges revolutionized bridge building in the mid-19th century.  His 1847 book, "A Work on Bridge Building", is considered the "...first significant theoretical formula to calculate stresses in the articulated truss.' (1)

Most of Whipple's bridges were found along the Erie Canal as his bridge design replaced many older wooden structures.  Over time, Whipple's bridges could be found in single or multiple spans throughout Northeast and Midwest.

Whipple bowstring truss bridge at Vischer's Ferry. (Adam Prince - December 2006)
Four of Whipple's bowstring truss designs can be found in the Albany area of New York State.  The first was built and designed by Mr. Whipple and can be found off of Riverview Road in Vischer's Ferry.   The bridge was constructed in 1869 and crossed the enlarged Erie Canal at Sparkers.  Like many of the bridges built by Whipple or others using his design, this bridge was moved to Fonda in 1919.
The Whipple bridge connects to the Towpath Trail within the Vischer's Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve.  (Adam Prince - December 2006)
Squire Whipple was a graduate of Union College in Schenectady.  The former Sprakers and Fonda bridge would later be restored by students, faculty and friends of the college under the direction of Dr. Frank Griggs, Jr.  The bridge was moved to cross a remnant of the old canal at Vischer's Ferry in 1998.

Normanskill Farm Bridge. (Doug Kerr - December 2006)
A second Whipple bridge sits not far to the south in Albany County.  Located off of NY 443, the Normanskill Farm Bridge is a Whipple Bowstring design that was built by Simon de Graff.  Throughout the 1800's, many bridge builders would slightly modify Whipple's design in order to avoid paying royalties and patent fees to Mr. Whipple. (2)

The bridge was constructed in 1867 and moved to its current location in 1899.  The bridge is originally thought to have come from Schoharie County but it is not 100% certain.  This bridge was moved in order to carry the Albany and Delaware Turnpike over the Normanskill.  Today, the bridge serves as a pedestrian bridge that is occasionally used by vehicles near the site of the former Stevens Farm.

A third Albany area Whipple designed bridge is located on the campus of Union College.  It is part of a pedestrian walkway near the Achilles Rink.  A fourth Whipple bridge, the Shaw Bridge in Claverack is located in Columbia County and will hopefully be restored and returned to use for pedestrian traffic.  The Shaw Bridge is a rare double span bowstring truss and was constructed in 1870.  It is believed to be the only remaining double span Whipple Bowstring Truss in the country.

Sources:

Getting There:


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

By
The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926.  Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California.  The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant.  However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes.  The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield.  In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range.   ...
2 comments
Read more

May 2023 Ontario Trip (Part 3 of 3)

By
  Over the years, I have made plenty of trips to Ontario, crisscrossing the southern, central and eastern parts of the province. Living in Upstate New York, it's pretty easy to visit our neighbor to the north, or is that our neighbor to the west? Ottawa is one of my favorite cities to visit anywhere in the world, plus I've discovered the charm of Kingston, the waterfalls of Hamilton (which is on the same Niagara Escarpment that brings us Niagara Falls), the sheer beauty of the Bruce Peninsula, and more. But I hadn't explored much of Cottage Country. So I decided to change that, and what better time to go than over Memorial Day weekend, when the daylight is long and I have an extra day to explore. On the third and final day of my trip, I started in Huntsville and made my way through Muskoka District and Haliburton County, passing by many lakes along the way. I stopped in towns such as Dorset, Haliburton and Bancroft before making a beeline down to Belleville and then over th...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

By
A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida.  One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region.  For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate.  Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century.  Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area.  The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...
4 comments
Read more