The Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company Bowstring Concrete Arch Bridge is located between Mechanic St. and Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...

 tracks in Bridgeport, West Virginia

Bridgeport, West Virginia

Bridgeport is a city in Harrison County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 7,306 at the 2000 census.The town of Bridgeport had its beginning in pre-Revolutionary War times. In 1764, John Simpson entered the area and gave his name to Simpson Creek. Bridgeport was chartered in 1816....

  The bridge was constructed in 1924, designed by Frank McEnteer. This elegant bowstring reinforced concrete arch bridge represents a traditional bridge type which was readily adapted to what was essentially a new construction
material: reinforced concrete. Unlike a rail or road bridge, this bridge can be considered an unusual pedestrian bridge in that it was built by the Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company in 1924 to provide access from the glass plant to a warehouse on the other side of Simpson Creek

Simpson Creek

Simpson Creek is a tributary of the West Fork River, long, in north-central West Virginia in the United States. Via the West Fork, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of on the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau...

. The bridge was designed to carry hand carts with glass products across the river to the warehouse. The bridge remains the only evidence of the original works, and its successor, Master Glass Company. Thus the bridge stands in splendid isolation from any other structure.

Structure Details

The bridge is 70 feet 4 inches long by 8 feet 11.8 inches in width. The height of the center line transom is 10 feet above the deck. Although hidden from view, a notable feature is the proprietary reinforcement used throughout the structure. The principal reinforcing bars are either of the patented Havemeyer reinforcement, produced by the Concrete Steel Company of New York, or a similar bar produced by Cambria Iron Works of Johnston, PA. It was an era of intense competition among reinforcing bar manufacturers with each individual deformed bar pattern carefully protected by patents. Smooth bars of approximately 1/4 inch diameter were employed for stirrups throughout the bridge structure.

• Arch 12" x 19"
• Tension ties 9" x 15"
• Deck 3"
• Verticals 8" x 8"

Historical significance

The reinforced concrete bowstring arch erected in 1924 by Frank Duff McEnteer and his Concrete Steel Bridge Company is an elegant expression of the bridge builders art executed by one of the pioneers in the use of reinforced concrete for both bridges and buildings. The bridge is a poignant reminder of the early glass industry that flourished in the Clarksburg area and indeed in the state as a whole. The glass industry found a favorable business climate based on cheap natural gas and abundant quartzite for producing products ranging from utilitarian bottles to the finest cut glass. Little remains of this once flourishing industry.

External links

• Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company, Simpson Creek Bridge, Spanning Simpson Creek, State Route 58 vicinity, Bridgeport, Harrison, WV: 2 drawings, 6 photos, 4 data pages, and 1 photo caption page at Historic American Building Survey