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Eastern Pennsylvania » The Piedmont » Dauphin County » Harrisburg and Vicinity » Susquehanna River Bridges

Susquehanna River Bridges

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1890–1926
  • Market Street Bridge (HAER)
  • Market Street Bridge (HAER)
  • Market Street Bridge (HAER)
  • Walnut Street Bridge (HAER)
  • Walnut Street Bridge (HAER)
  • Walnut Street Bridge (HAER)

The Susquehanna was first bridged at Harrisburg in 1817 by Theodore Burr's “Camelback Bridge,” a wooden truss, covered bridge (demolished) that crossed the mile of river on multiple piers. Presently Harrisburg is the site of numerous bridges of note including the early-twentieth-century Mulberry Street Bridge, designed by James Fuertes and still one of the largest concrete bridges in the nation. The Market Street Bridge is the most important of the city bridges, a long-span structure of sixteen barrel arches that was designed in 1926 by Modjeski and Masters, with consulting architect Paul Cret, bringing together the team that designed the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia ( PH1). The bridge is ornamented with plaques by Alexander Sterling Calder as well as two Ionic columns rescued from the original 1816 capitol. Also of note is the Walnut Street Bridge (1890), a light steel Bollman truss bridge designed by Wendell Bollman of the Phoenix Bridge Company (of Phoenixville); it now provides pedestrian access to City Island.

Writing Credits

Author: 
George E. Thomas
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Data

What's Nearby

James McCormick House
Dauphin County Courthouse
Market Square Presbyterian Church
John Harris House
Dauphin Deposit Bank

Citation

George E. Thomas, "Susquehanna River Bridges", [Harrisburg, Pennsylvania], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/PA-02-DA8.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of PA vol 2

Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, George E. Thomas, with Patricia Likos Ricci, Richard J. Webster, Lawrence M. Newman, Robert Janosov, and Bruce Thomas. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 344-344.

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