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Photo, Print, Drawing Ponakin Road Bridge, Spanning Nashua River on Ponakin Road, Lancaster, Worcester County, MA

[ Photos from Survey HAER MA-13  ]

More Resources

[ Drawings from Survey HAER MA-13  ]
[ Data Pages from Survey HAER MA-13  ]
[ Photo Captions from Survey HAER MA-13  ]

About this Item

Title

  • Ponakin Road Bridge, Spanning Nashua River on Ponakin Road, Lancaster, Worcester County, MA

Names

  • Historic American Engineering Record, creator
  • Post , Simeon S.
  • Watson Manufacturing Company
  • Thayer, Nathaniel
  • Wilder, Charles L.
  • Parker, George A.
  • Thissle, Joshua
  • Post, Andrew J.
  • Jackson, Donald C., transmitter
  • Hawley, Monica E., transmitter
  • Massachusetts Department of Public Works, sponsor
  • Massachusetts Historical Commission, sponsor
  • DeLony, Eric N., project manager
  • Schodek, Daniel L., field team supervisor
  • Reese, Patricia, field team
  • Kleinschmidt, Gary C., field team
  • Payne, Christopher, field team
  • Fleisig, Morgen, field team
  • Rowan, Mark C., field team
  • Sosef, Rudolf J. A., field team
  • Bennett, Lola, field team
  • Harshbarger, Patrick, historian
  • Healey, John, field team supervisor
  • Stupich, Martin, photographer
  • Debnam, Albert N., delineator
  • Lowe, Jet, photographer

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1968

Headings

  • -  iron truss bridges
  • -  civil engineering
  • -  bridge construction
  • -  patents
  • -  textile industry
  • -  railroad companies
  • -  floods
  • -  industry
  • -  vehicular bridges
  • -  pedestrian bridges
  • -  eyebars
  • -  cast iron
  • -  wrought iron
  • -  guard rails
  • -  I-beams
  • -  masonry abutments
  • -  stone abutments
  • -  wood decking
  • -  transportation
  • -  Massachusetts--Worcester County--Lancaster

Latitude / Longitude

  • 42.48114,-71.68578

Notes

  • -  Significance: The single span Ponakin Road Bridge is 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, with vertical end posts. The bridge has diagonal compression members and diagonal eye-bar tension members that extend two panels, with secondary tension rods extending over one panel. The upper chord lateral bracing is riveted and additional bracing is provided by diagonal cross bars. This truss was developed by Simeon S. Post in about 1865, with a configuration characterized by compression members inclining towards the center of the bridge. The post truss was an important bridge form in the second half of the 19th century, and widely used for transcontinental railway construction. The Ponakin Road Bridge is the only all metal Post truss bridge surviving in the U.S. This type of bridge is commonly referred to as the Post Patent Truss, but research in the Patent Office records failed to uncover any patents taken out by S.S. Post that describe a truss with inclined compression members. Nevertheless, this type of truss was widely known as the Post truss and it was built in great profusion throughout the East and Midwest between 1865 and 1880. After this time its popularity waned as the standardized Pratt truss began being built in great numbers. The Ponakin Road Bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Ponakin Bridge is the only known surviving iron bridge to incorporate all of the design features of Simeon S. Post's patent for an "improved iron truss bridge." Post trusses enjoyed a brief period of popularity in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Railroads often chose Post's bridge for long-span river crossings. The Ponakin Bridge is an unusual example of a Post truss used for a relatively short-span highway bridge. The Ponakin Bridge served a small cotton manufacturing village on the west bank of the North Nashua River. The bridge has sustained some structural damage but has not been significantly altered.
  • -  Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-12
  • -  Survey number: HAER MA-13
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1871 Initial Construction
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1973 Subsequent Work
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1978 Subsequent Work
  • -  National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 79000378

Medium

  • Photo(s): 19
  • Measured Drawing(s): 6
  • Data Page(s): 26
  • Photo Caption Page(s): 2

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HAER MASS,14-LANC.V,2-

Source Collection

  • Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • ma1172

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

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  • Call Number: HAER MASS,14-LANC.V,2-
  • Access Advisory: ---

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, Simeon S Post, Watson Manufacturing Company, Nathaniel Thayer, Charles L Wilder, George A Parker, Joshua Thissle, et al., Stupich, Martin, and Jet Lowe, photographer. Ponakin Road Bridge, Spanning Nashua River on Ponakin Road, Lancaster, Worcester County, MA. Lancaster Worcester County Massachusetts, 1968. translateds by Jackson, Donald C.Mitter, and Hawley, Monica E.Mitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ma1172/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, C., Post, S. S., Watson Manufacturing Company, Thayer, N., Wilder, C. L., Parker, G. A. [...] Debnam, A. N., Stupich, M. & Lowe, J., photographer. (1968) Ponakin Road Bridge, Spanning Nashua River on Ponakin Road, Lancaster, Worcester County, MA. Lancaster Worcester County Massachusetts, 1968. Jackson, D. C. M. & Hawley, M. E. M., transs Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ma1172/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, et al., photographers by Stupich, Martin, and Jet Lowe. Ponakin Road Bridge, Spanning Nashua River on Ponakin Road, Lancaster, Worcester County, MA. trans by Jackson, Donald C.Mitter, and Hawley, Monica E.Mitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/ma1172/>.