King Bridge Company

1867 North Platte River, Ft. Laramie, Wyoming

1907 Kalamazoo River bridge near Fennville and Saugatuck, Michigan

Quarry Bridge over the Iowa River.

King Iron Bridge Company historic marker in Piermont, New York

The King Iron Bridge & Manufacturing Company was a late-19th-century bridge building company located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded by Zenas King (1818–1892) in 1858 and subsequently managed by his sons, James A. King and Harry W. King and then his grandson, Norman C. King, until the mid-1920s. Many of the bridges built by the company were used during America's expansion west in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and some of these bridges are still standing today.

Remaining examples

• Crum Road Bridge, Walkersville, Maryland (1875)
• Skunk River Bridge, Story County, Iowa (1876). Originally located over the Skunk River in Cambridge, Iowa, moved southeast of Ames, Iowa in 1916. Vacated in 1990, and NRHP-listed in 1998.^[1]
• Bowstring Truss Bridge, near Ironto, Virginia (1878)^[2]
• Half Chance Iron Bridge, Marengo County, Alabama (1880)
• Sparkill Creek Drawbridge, Piermont, New York (1880)
• Adel Bridge, Adel, Iowa (1882) NRHP-listed in 2002^[3]
• Old Alton Bridge, Denton County, Texas (1884)
• Quarry Bridge, County Road I-4 over the Iowa River, Quarry, Iowa (1885) NRHP-listed^[4]
• Second Street Bridge, Allegan, Michigan, (1886), NRHP-listed
• Merriam Street Bridge, Minneapolis, Minnesota (originally built in 1887 as the Broadway Avenue Bridge, one span relocated to Nicollet Island in 1987)
• Monsrud Bridge (1887), Waterville, Iowa reloacted to Yellow River State Forest in 2004, NRHP-listed^[5]
• Swing Bridge at New Bridge Landing, Main St. and Old New Bridge Rd. over Hackensack River, in Teaneck and River Edge, New Jersey (1888) NRHP-listed
• Bennies Hill Road Bridge, Frederick County, Maryland (1889)
• Waverly Street Bridge, Waverly St. at Georges Creek, Westernport, Maryland (1892) NRHP-listed
• Hogback Bridge, Curwensville, Pennsylvania (1893)
• St. Clair Street Bridge, Frankfort, Kentucky, known locally as the "singing bridge" (1894)^[6][7]
• Rosendale trestle, Rosendale, New York (1895–96)
• Niantic River Bridge, New London County, Connecticut (1907, being replaced in 2010-2012), deemed NRHP-eligible in 1987 but not finally NRHP-listed due to owner objection
• Detroit-Superior Bridge, Cleveland, Ohio (1918)
• Abandoned Illinois Railway (IR) Through truss bridge over Rock River, Rockford, Illinois.^[8] Now used for a rail-trail.^[9]

Abandoned Rock River railroad bridge in Rockford, IL. Now used for a rail-trail.

Additional bridges designed and/or built by the company (and many likely to be surviving) are:

• Clear Creek Bridge, Twp. Rd. over Clear Cr., 5.8 mi. NW of Bellwood, Bellwood, Nebraska NRHP-listed
• Dearborn River High Bridge, 15 mi. SW of Augusta on Bean Lake Rd., Augusta, Montana NRHP-listed
• Ellsworth Ranch Bridge, 130th St., over E fork of Des Moines R., Armstrong, Iowa NRHP-listed
• KY 2541 Bridge, Main St. over Little Sandy River, Greenup, Kentucky NRHP-listed
• Marmaton Bridge, 1 mile NE of Fort Scott, Fort Scott, Kansas NRHP-listed
• Robidoux Creek Pratt Truss Bridge, Sunflower Rd., 0.8 mi. W of jct. with 21st Rd., NW of Frankfort, Frankfort, Kansas NRHP-listed
• South Dakota Department of Transportation Bridge No. 14-088-170, Local Rd. over Clay Cr. Ditch, Vermillion, South Dakota NRHP-listed
• South Dakota Dept. of Transportation Bridge No. 29-221-060, Local rd. over the Big Sioux R., Castlewood, South Dakota NRHP-listed
• Williams Street Bridge, Williams St. crossing Ten Mile Creek, N of jct. of Williams St. and Broadwater Ave., Helena, Montana NRHP-listed

Demolished bridges

• Bridge over North Fork of Roanoke River, near Ironto, Virginia (1892, demolished 1995-1996)

References

1. "Skunk River bridge". Historic Bridges of Iowa. Iowa Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2012-03-25.
2. Antony F. Opperman (May 2008). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Bowstring Truss Bridge" (PDF). Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
3. Elizabeth Foster, Clayton Fraser). "Adel Bridge" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2016-04-03.
4. National Park Service (2009-03-13). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
5. "Monsrud bridge". Iowa Department of Transportation. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
6. "The Singing Bridge in Frankfort, Kentucky". King Bridge Company Museum. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
7. "Location and Geography". City of Frankfort. Retrieved September 16, 2010.
8. "IR - Rock River Bridge". Bridgehunter.com. Retrieved 2016-06-02.
9. O'Brien, Eric. "Old, Unused Railroad Bridge Gets Re-Purposed As Pedestrian Bridge". www.wifr.com. Retrieved 2016-06-02.

• King Bridge Company Museum
• King Iron Bridge & Manufacturing Company at the Cleveland Digital Library

External links

• Media related to Bridges by King Bridge Company at Wikimedia Commons