Pikeland Road Bridge

Information and Findings From Pennsylvania's Historic Bridge Inventory

Discussion of Bridge

The 2 span, 53'-long, brick arch bridge built in 1908 has fieldstone spandrel walls and parapets. It is supported on stone pier and abutments with U-shaped wingwalls and parapets enclosing the approach roadways. In Pennsylvania, the brick arch was never a widely popular bridge type, with over two-thirds of the 25 extant examples from 1864 to 1908 in the three southeastern counties of Chester, Delaware, and Philadelphia. A cluster of 9 examples in Chester County date from 1901 to 1908. Chester County has more brick arch bridges than any other county in the state. They were built under the supervision of Chester County Engineer Nathan R. Rambo, who favored masonry arches at a time when other county engineers were turning to reinforced concrete. The choice of brick arch bridges reflected as much a desire to build a bridge type that required little in the way of formal engineering design or calculations, as it did an aesthetic decision. The handsome brick arch bridges offered low maintenance costs and permanency. Complete and particularly well detailed examples are technologically significant in the county and regional contexts.

Discussion of Surrounding Area

The bridge carries a 2 lane road over a stream in a setting of active farms and scattered 19th to late-20th-century residences and businesses. Open fields and woods are immediately adjacent to each corner of the bridge. Approximately 300' to the west is the intersection of Pikeland Road and SR 113, where are located an altered 20th-century residence and a late- 20th-century gas station and convenience store. The setting does not have the cohesiveness or integrity of historic resources to merit historic district potential.

Bridge Considered Historic By Survey: Yes