Skip to main content

Mottville Camelback Bridge - St. Joseph County, Michigan

Image
By


 

Located in Mottville, Michigan, the Mottville Camelback Bridge spans 270 feet across the St. Joseph River and is a beautiful example of camelback bridges that once commonly dotted the landscape across Michigan and also into neighboring Ontario. Built in 1922 under the direction of bridge engineer, C.A. Melick, the Mottville Bridge is the surviving longest example of a concrete camelback arch bridge in Michigan. A standardized set of plans used by the Michigan Highway Department at the time featured the concrete camelback arch bridges at 90 feet long and 22 feet wide. While the Mottville Bridge was bypassed in 1990 by a modern highway bridge running parallel to it along US 12, it is not the first bridge at this location, even though it has been there the longest in terms of its lifespan.

Several bridges and crossings have graced the general location of the Mottville Camelback Bridge in this slice of St. Joseph County, Michigan. First, there was a Native American trail called the Great Sauk Trail, which connected Detroit, Chicago, and Wisconsin and it crossed the St. Joseph River at a shallow spot in this vicinity. In 1825, the United States federal government had the trail surveyed in response to the westward migration of the pioneers, which converted the trail into the Chicago Road. Several shorter-lived bridges were then built in succession in Mottville over the St. Joseph River. The first Chicago Road bridge to cross the river near Mottville was a substantial timber structure that was constructed in 1833 and 1834 by contractor Hart L. Stewart. Then, a pile-supported bridge replaced it in 1845. In 1867 Mahlon Thompson and Joseph Miller built a Burr arch truss covered bridge located just upstream from the modern-day bridge. Today, you can see the ruins of its stone abutments. The Mottville Camelback Bridge was the fourth bridge at this location, and now there is the highway bridge on US 12.

Today, the bridge has not been altered from its original design and appearance, giving it a high level of historic integrity and significance. There is a small parking area near the bridge and the bridge is open for pedestrian use and passive recreation. It was certainly a nice little stopover to see the Mottville Bridge and take in its role in Michigan highway history.









How to Get There:



Sources and Links:
HistoricBridges.org - Mottville Bridge
Mottville Township - Mottville Bridge
Atlas Obscura - Mottville Camelback Bridge
The Historical Marker Database - Mottville Bridge
Local Remnants - Historic Mottville Bridge Across St. Joseph River
US 12 Heritage Trail - Mottville
Western Michigan University - Final Report of the Archaeological Site Examination of the U.S. 12 Mottville Bridge and Approaches Replacement Project, St. Joseph and Cass Counties, Michigan
Labels:
Location: W Chicago Rd, Constantine, MI 49042, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The case to move Interstate 73 in Southern Ohio onto US 33

By
Every decade or so, Ohio pushes to revisit the proposed Interstate 73 that would connect Michigan to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It's been happening since Congress legislated the route in 1991.  Within Ohio, Interstate 73 generally follows the US 23 corridor from Portsmouth through Columbus to Toledo, and into Michigan. Since High Priority Corridor Five was created , Ohio has really done nothing to move forward with Interstate 73.  Sure, there have been feasibility studies here and there.  But actual dollars and construction just haven't occurred. The US 33 Nelsonville Bypass appears to have been built to Interstate standards. However, Ohio has been slowly upgrading US 33 to a full freeway through Southeastern Ohio.  Bypasses of Lancaster and Nelsonville opened in 2004 and 2013, respectively.  Other sections of two-lane road are being twinned, some to freeway or, at a minimum, to expressway standards.  Currently, a $274 million widening project in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Local Sign Find - The last remnant of Business Interstate 95 between Kenly and Rocky Mount , NC

By
As you head north on Interstate 95 at Exit 107 for Kenly and US 301, you'll notice something odd about the overhead sign for the exit.  Peeling off the sign for all that can see is the word 'NORTH' off-center from the US 301.  This old sign (probably close to original from when this section of I-95 opened - more on that in a little bit) gives a hint to a short-lived Business Interstate Route that ran from here to Rocky Mount. The last hint of the Kenly-Wilson-Rocky Mount Business I-95 (Shaun White - August 2020) Interstate 95 in North Carolina has a unique history.  But one of the overlooked and forgotten pieces of Interstate 95 in North Carolina is the 38 mile section between Kenly and Rocky Mount.  When opened to traffic in late 1978, it was the next to last piece of Interstate 95 in North Carolina to open replacing a four lane US 301 from Battleboro through Rocky Mount and Wilson to eventually tying back into the Interstate in Kenly. Though it was not delayed in l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nostalgia fast food with style - Returning to Rax

By
Nostalgia. It sells. It evokes, and more accurately, warps memories of days gone by.  Things were better, simpler, and we eat it up. Nostalgia can make you drive three hours and over a hundred miles out of your way just to reconnect with a dying fast-food restaurant you last enjoyed in the early to mid-90s.  That person was me - that restaurant was Rax. I could go on about Rax's history, but in short, Rax was briefly a very popular roast beef fast-food chain.  Growing up in the 80s and early 90s in Western PA, Rax was the good fast-food spot.  The milkshakes.  (Personally, the chocolate chip milkshake was heaven.)  Uncle Alligator Kids Meal with the chocolate chip cookie. Take that McDonald's Happy Meal!  The fancy salad and hot foods bar.  Going to Rax was special.  Like so many similar restaurants, various investments, management decisions, etc., led Rax to almost disappear overnight.  By the time I graduated college in late 1999, abou...
Post a Comment
Read more