Dunlap's Creek Bridge

Dunlap's Creek Bridge
Carries	National Road
Crosses	Dunlap's Creek
Locale	Brownsville, Pennsylvania
Designer	Richard Delafield
Design	arch bridge
Material	cast iron
Longest span	24.4 metres (80 ft)[1]
Number of spans	1
Construction begin	1836
Construction end	1839
Coordinates	40°1′16.57″N 79°53′16.90″W / 40.0212694°N 79.888028°W / 40.0212694; -79.888028[2]
Dunlap's Creek Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Coordinates:	40°1′17″N 79°53′19″W / 40.02139°N 79.88861°W / 40.02139; -79.88861Coordinates: 40°1′17″N 79°53′19″W / 40.02139°N 79.88861°W / 40.02139; -79.88861
Governing body:	State
NRHP Reference#:	78002398[3]
Added to NRHP:	July 31, 1978

Dunlap's Creek Bridge was the first cast iron, metal arch bridge in the United States. It was designed by Richard Delafield and built by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.^[4] Constructed from 1836 to 1839 on the National Road in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, it remains in use today. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (1978).

History

There have been four structures on this site. The first two collapsed in 1808 and 1820. The third, a wood frame structure, needed replacement by 1832.^[5]

This bridge is constructed using five parallel tubular ribs, each made of 9 elliptical segments to form the 80 feet (24 m) arch.^[4]

Image

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  Plaque commemorating Dunlap's Creek Bridge

See also

• List of Registered Historic Places in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
• List of historic civil engineering landmarks

References

• Vivian, Cassandra (2003). The National Road in Pennsylvania. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 85–86. ISBN 0-7385-1166-8. 

1. ^ Dunlap's Creek Bridge at Structurae
2. ^ The First Cast Iron Bridge: Historical Marker Database
3. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Jackson, Donald C. (1988). Great American Bridges and Dams. Wiley. pp. 142. ISBN 0-471-14385-5. 
5. ^ "Dunlap's Creek Bridge, Spanning Dunlap's Creek, Brownsville, Fayette County, PA". http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?pp/hh:@field(NUMBER+@band(pa1412)). Retrieved 2008-07-16. 

External links

• Dunlap’s Creek Bridge: Historical Marker Database
• Dunlap's Creek Bridge: History and Heritage of Civil Engineering
• Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey