HistoricBridges.org offers professional detail-oriented photo-documentation, information, and preservation advocacy for all types of historic bridges except covered bridges. HistoricBridges.org is authored by Nathan Holth. Click Here For The Latest Website Update (12-24-21). Follow our Facebook Page to get notified of website updates.
HistoricBridges.org Features
Featuring photo-documentation and narratives, the Bridge Browser offers photo-documentation and narrative discussion for thousands of selected historic bridges. Although selected bridges from around the world are listed, the Bridge Browser focuses on North America. Places listed in blue on the interactive map below have bridges available. The BridgeSeek search tool, is also available. This link has new and under-construction pages. There are currently 7279 bridges available in the Bridge Browser.
Random Bridge (Click To Load Another)
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Vachel Lindsay Bridge
| Springfield: Sangamon County, Illinois | This is one of the largest examples in the country of an extremely rare bridge type, a cantilevered concrete arch bridge. | 
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Additional Website Features
An Introduction to Historic Bridges
Informative presentations designed to introduce viewers to the world of historic bridges. Utilizing photos and diagrams, the various terminology, construction, and configuration of historic bridges is discussed. A presentation on inspecting historic bridges is also available. This page also features some formal, yet easy-to-read, essays that further explore the historic bridge world.
An archive of presentations given by
HistoricBridges.org, plus numerous articles relating to historic bridges. This section also includes some non-bridge related photos. Some of the
major features include:
- Downloadable presentations previously given by
HistoricBridges.org.
- A discussion of Michigan's ornamental "Type R4" bridge
railing.
- An in-depth look at curved chord through girder bridges.
Historic Bridge Park: A Visitor's Guide
A comprehensive visitor's guide to this unique park located in Calhoun County, Michigan whose focus is the restored metal truss bridges within the park. Contains maps, photos, and links to bridge browser pages for the historic bridges within the park.
Iron and Steel Brands: A Catalog of Steel Mill Marks
This is a one-stop photographic catalog of the names of steel mills found on bridges in the United States and around the world. The wording and design of these mill marks/brands changed over the years and in some cases can assist in dating the iron/steel materials on a bridge.
HistoricBridges.org Prints Store
The Prints Store is where you can purchase quality prints of selected photos from HistoricBridges.org taken by Nathan Holth. Photos are organized into folders by state/province. Don't see the bridge and/or photo you would like a print of? Contact us and let us know what photo you would like and we will upload it to the store so you can purchase your prints.
HistoricBridges.org Facebook Page
HistoricBridges.org maintains a Facebook page. The Facebook page is a convienient way to be notified of major updates to the website and other important news relating to the website and historic bridges.
Features a collection of external links to other bridge websites on the Internet. Many other bridge enthusiast websites feature bridges from areas not covered by this website, and links to those websites can be found here.
Historic Bridge Finder App: Find Nearby Bridges
The Historic Bridge Finder App, produced by the Historic Bridge Foundation, is an app that uses Google Maps and allows you to instantly locate and visit all historic bridges on the HistoricBridges.org Bridge Browser, including instantly listing all bridges that are near your current location (and have not been demolished yet). These features are not available using the HistoricBridges.org website, so download this Apple/Android app today to quickly find and visit bridges on HistoricBridges.org!
Website Updates
December 24, 2021 - Completion of Project To Eliminate Photo Additions Backlog
Work to add the very old backlog of photos to be added to existing pages has completed! Some photos dated back to 2010 and never got added as adding new bridges to the Bridge Browser always took priority over expanding existing pages. The use of "Unorganized Galleries" allowed us to release a massive number of photos in an extremely short period of time.
Also as part of this update additional photos from contributors Caleb Barker, Jason Holloway, and Paul Plassman have also been added to existing pages.
This final update package updates well over 100 more pages with additional photos. Some of these updates were very minor in nature, with just a few photos added.
Lastly, brand new photos have been added to the very old Bridge Browser pages for Portland, Michigan including the Bridge Street Bridge lit in Christmas colors.
Visit the Facebook Page to see photos with links to existing bridge pages that had new photos added.
November 26, 2021 - Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa Update Completed
All bridges and photos from this October 2021 trip have now been added to the website.
View The Latest Additions To The Website
October 29, 2021 - Website Milestone, Midwest Update, and Pennsylvania Turnpike
HistoricBridges.org is proud to now feature over 7,000 bridges on the Bridge Browser! The first group of bridges from an Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin trip have been added to the website. More remain to be added. Meanwhile, a bunch of drive-by photos of over 40 bridges for the Pennsylvania Turnpike are added. Although these bridges are not highly significant, and these are not the typical full photo-documentations that HistoricBridges.org is known for, the decision was made to add these bridges due to the rate at which these bridges are being demolished and replaced. The original section of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is itself historically significant and even the newer sections were constructed with the same classical concrete rigid-frames and riveted plate girders, designs not found on modern expressways. This update package also previews a plan to document some of the historically significant parkway bridges of the New York City area. Currently, HistoricBridges.org has only photographed the Palisades Parkway in the New York City region (this will be added in a week or two), however the hope is to photo more parkways on future visits to that area.
October 8, 2021 - Pittsburgh and Cleveland Updates
A unique riverboat tour on the Monongahela River resulted in the addition of two large otherweise inaccessible railroad bridges, plus additional photos for existing bridges from the unique angle of a boat. Also, several bridges in Cleveland have been redocumented and had videos added.
See also our Facebook page for existing bridge pages that had additional photos added:
https://www.facebook.com/historicbridges/posts/4290759647698153
September 30, 2021 - Ongoing North American Updates
This summer, most updates have been focused on adding bridges from a couple trips to fill in coverage for states with existing coverage... states such as Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. This update completes additions from an Illinois/Missouri/Indiana trip as well as a Pennsylvania trip completed this year. Misc. additions in North America have also been added as well as some outstanding additions to northern Ontario thanks to contributions from Canadian visitors.
See also our Facebook page for existing bridge pages that had additional photos added.
August 5, 2021 - Ongoing North American Updates
This summer, most updates have been focused on adding bridges from a couple trips to fill in coverage for states with existing coverage... states such as Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. Many of these additions include high significance bridges that were for whatever reason not documented in previous bridge trips. In addition, we continue to post wonderful photos from contributors in Ontario, so many additions for Canada continue to be added to the website.
In addition new photo galleries have been added to existing bridge pages:
Cairo Mississippi River Bridge
April 8, 2021 - Alabama
This update releases all results of a recent Alabama documentation project to visit many of the top historic bridges in the state.
February 13, 2021 - Continuing Misc. Additions
Cleanup of the backlog of bridges continues. All remaining bridges from past overseas trips have been added. Meanwhile, in the USA, a number of bridges for Florida have been added as well as a few other states.
January 13, 2021 - Continuing Misc. Additions Including Vietnam and Thailand
We continue to add a variety of bridges from many locations to the website. Bridges in Vietnam and Thailand have been added.
January 13, 2021 - Continuing Misc. Additions Including Japan
We continue to add a variety of bridges from many locations to the website. Recent updates include some bridges in Tokyo, Japan (excluding some of the top bridges which were enclosed for painting during this 2018 trip). Also added are all the historic bridges in Tampa, Florida. Lastly, some misc. bridges in Ontario, Canada have been added. See also added photos for the demolished Portage Viaduct in New York State.
October 30, 2020 - Appalachian Mountains Highlights
This update package was the result of a trip designed to document high significance bridges in this mountainous region where the quantity of historic bridges is relatively low. Coverage stretches over several states.
October 30, 2020 - Continuation of North America Coverage Expansion
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates focus on bridges from a variety of states, particularly Indiana and Pennsylvania.
October 10, 2020 - Completion of Texas Update Package
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates focus on bridges from a variety of states and Ontario, including far northern Ontario.
September 29, 2020 - Completion of Texas Update Package
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates complete the Texas update package from the 2019 trip. There are now 185 bridges for Texas.
August 24, 2020 - Completion of Louisiana Update Package
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates complete the Louisiana update package from the 2019 trip.
August 14, 2020 - Continuation of North America Coverage Expansion
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates have been primarily focused on Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Ontario.
August 3, 2020 - Continuation of North America Coverage Expansion
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates have been primarily focused on Louisiana.
July 25, 2020 - Continuation of North America Coverage Expansion
Weekly additions to the website continue, so please check back often to see the latest bridges added to the website. The most recent updates have been primarily focused on Texas and West Virginia.
Chicago's Bridges Book Now Available!
By Nathan Holth, author of HistoricBridges.org, this book provides a discussion of the history of Chicago's movable bridges, and includes a virtual tour discussing all movable bridges remaining in Chicago today. The book includes dozens of full color photos.
Only $9.95 U.S.!
($11.95 Canadian)
Available Now Direct From The Publisher!
Looking For A Pedestrian or Light Vehicular Bridge?
Whether you are a park, trail organization, college, city, or private landowner, you want your property to be something unique and special. Why settle for a boring, dull pre-fabricated pedestrian bridge when you can get a beautiful historic bridge to do the same thing? Many states maintain a list of bridges which you can acquire, relocate and restore, and other individually listed opportunities often are available. These bridges normally can be acquired free of charge, so use the money you were going to put toward buying a pre-fab bridge and instead use it to restore the bridge. Not sure how to restore a bridge? HistoricBridges.org can help guide you to people and firms that can help, or you can just get in touch with Bach Steel. Note: these bridges will be demolished if nobody acquires them.View Currently Available Bridges List, Maintained By Historic Bridge Foundation
Support Historic Bridges With A Donation To The Historic Bridge Foundation:
We do not seek donations for the operation of HistoricBridges.org, nor do we feature advertisements in our content. However if you are interested in helping the cause of historic bridges by financial means, we strongly suggest a tax-deductible donation to the Historic Bridge Foundation:
Historic Bridge Foundation
Donate
The Historic Bridge Foundation works to encourage government agencies and officials to preserve historic bridges, the Foundation provides consultation and guidance to individuals and groups seeking to preserve historic bridges. The expertise available at the Foundation is evidenced by the fact that HistoricBridges.org frequently refers people to the Foundation for further assistance beyond what HistoricBridges.org itself provides.
If you have any questions about why a donation to the Historic Bridge Foundation is worthwhile, feel free to contact HistoricBridges.org. Alternatively, learn more about the Historic Bridge Foundation at their website www.historicbridgefoundation.com.
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