Bardwell's Ferry Bridge, Spanning Deerfield River on Bardwell's Ferry Road, Shelburne, Franklin County, MA

Significance: The Bardwell's Ferry Bridge is an excellent, virtually unaltered, example of William Douglas's 1878 patent for a wrought-rion lenticular truss bridge. It is one of approximately fifty lenticular truss bridges to survive nationally, and one of only ten known surviving lenticular truss bridges in Massachusetts (eight of which are under Massachusetts Department of Public Works purview). It is thought to be the longest single lenticluar span in the state. The bridge is nationally significant as one of the longest and oldest surviving lenticular truss spans in the United States. The bridge's fabricator, the Corrugated Metal Company, became the Berlin Iron Bridge Company in 1883, and went on to become one of the leading bridge-building companies in New England in the late-nineteenth century.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-17

Survey number: HAER MA-98

Building/structure dates: 1882 Initial Construction

vehicular bridges shelburne bardwell ferry bridge ferry bridge deerfield deerfield river ferry road franklin county massachusetts lola bennett corrugated metal company eric delony morgen fleisig patrick harshbarger john healey historic american engineering record gary kleinschmidt john leeke massachusetts department of public works massachusetts historical commission chris payne patricia reese mark rowan daniel schodek rudolf sosef martin stupich photo bardwell ferry bridge bardwell ferry road ultra high resolution high resolution historic american landscapes survey historic american buildings survey new england library of congress

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

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