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Boston Bridge Works

{{Short description|Bridge building contractor out of Boston, MA}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Boston Bridge Works

| image = File:Boston Bridge Works.png

| industry = Bridge construction

| founded = {{Start date|1876}} in Boston, MA, U.S.

| founder = D.H. Andrews

| fate = Out of business {{end date|1938}}

| area_served = New England

}}

Boston Bridge Works (also known as Boston Bridge Works, Inc.) was an engineering firm, building bridges throughout New England, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Operating out of Boston, they specialized in the drafting, design and implementation of both road and railway truss bridges, a common bridge style of that period.{{cite web |url=https://www.tn.gov/tdot/structures-/historic-bridges/history-of-a-truss-bridge.html |title=History of a Truss Bridge |author= |date= |publisher=tn.gov |access-date=15 September 2022}}

History

The establishment of Boston Bridge Works was in the year 1876 by David H. Andrews,{{cite web |url=https://www.nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/bridgedesign/documents/individualinventoryform.pdf |title=Individual Inventory Form |author= |date=April 2013 |website=nh.gov |publisher=New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources |access-date=14 September 2022 |page=3}} building notable bridges, such as the 1892 Harvard Bridge between Cambridge and Boston.{{cite book |author=Massachusetts Commissioner |date=1892 |title=Harvard Bridge Boston to Cambridge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1qQJAAAAIAAJ |publisher=Rockwell and Churchill |page=16 |via=New York Public Library}} The company also constructed bridges for many New England railways such as the Boston and Maine Railroad and Boston and Providence Railroad.

Employees of the company were engineers and contractors for steel bridges, buildings, roofs, and railway turntables. The general offices, for most of their operating years, were at 47 Winter Street, Boston, with a plant in East Cambridge.{{cite news |author= |date=27 March 1926 |title=The Boston Bridge Works Inc. |url=https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/?a=d&d=Sentinel19260327-01.2.67&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |publisher=The Cambridge Sentinel |access-date=14 September 2022 |via=Cambridge Public Library}}

In August 1909 a lawsuit was brought to the Massachusetts Superior Court claiming Boston Bridge Works and the New England Structural Company of wrongdoing in a civil suit. The suit alleged the two companies were in a collusive bidding war. The city of Boston claimed that the two companies had a monopoly in the area. Bids for the Broadway bridge consisted of {{Currency|112874|US$}} by the New England Structural Company and {{Currency|113000|US$}} by Boston Bridge Works. The contract was awarded to Boston Bridge Works but due to losing the lawsuit, they had to pay back {{Currency|5000|US$}} to the city of Boston.{{cite news |author=Staff writer |author-link=Staff writer |date=August 12, 1909 |title=City Wins Steel Suit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5Y-AAAAIBAJ&dq=Boston+Bridge+Works&pg=PA15&article_id=3949,4134205 |via=Google Books |work=Boston Evening Transcript |location=Boston |access-date=June 11, 2023}}

After both a fire at their Cambridge plant,{{cite news |author= |date=20 July 1936 |title=Fire Damages Cambridge Paint and Repair Shop |publisher=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/431797782/?terms=%22Boston%20Bridge%20Works%22 |access-date=14 September 2022 |via=newspapers.com}} and declining contracts during the Great Depression, Boston Bridge Works went out of business in 1938.

Notable bridges

{{Table|sort}}

|+ {{sronly|Notable bridges}}

! scope="col" | Image

! scope="col" | Bridge

! scope="col" | Year

! scope="col" | Type

! scope="col" width=125 | State

! scope="col" | Town

! scope="col" | River

! scope="col" | Status

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Congress Street Bridge{{HAER |survey=MA-38 |id=ma1234 |title=Congress Street Bascule Bridge}}

| {{year|1930}}

| Trunnion bascule bridge

| {{flag|Massachusetts}}

| Boston

| Fort Point Channel

| Closed, still standing

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Frank J. Wood Bridge{{cite web |url=https://www.maine.gov/mdot/env/documents/fjwepr/Brunswick-Topsham22603.00Package1.16.2018.pdf |title=Addendum to Supplemental Supporting Information for a Finding of Effect |last=Senk |first=Julie |date=16 January 2018 |publisher=Maine DOT |access-date=30 September 2022}}

| {{year|1932}}

| Through truss

| {{flag|Maine}}

| {{plainlist|

}}

| Androscoggin River

| Open to traffic

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Gould's Mill Bridge{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=05001589}}|title=NRHP Nomination for Gould's Mill Bridge|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2020-09-28}}

| {{year|1929}}

| Baltimore truss

| {{flag|Vermont}}

| Springfield

| Black River

| Open to traffic

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Harvard Bridge

| {{year|1891}}

| Girder bridge

| {{flag|Massachusetts}}

| {{plainlist|

}}

| Charles River

| Open to traffic

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | India Point Railroad Bridge{{cite book|last=Allen|first= Richard Sanders|title=Covered Bridges of the Northeast|date= January 2004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wt-Uh2To70C|via=Google Books|publisher=Dover Publications|pages=93–94|isbn= 9780486436623}}

| {{year|1903}}

| Swing bridge

| {{flag|Rhode Island}}

| {{plainlist|

}}

| Seekonk River

| Removed 2001{{cite web|title=India Point Railroad Bridge Awaiting Qualified Suitor|url=http://www.pbn.com/India-Point-Railroad-Bridge-awaiting-qualified-suitor,578|work=Providence Business News|access-date=30 September 2022}}

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Penobscot River Bridge{{Cite web|url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/master/pnp/habshaer/me/me0200/me0276/data/me0276data.pdf|title=Penobscot Bridge|last=Carson|first=Eric W.|work=Historic American Engineering Record|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=30 September 2022}}

| {{year|1902}}

| Truss

| {{flag|Maine}}

| {{plainlist|

}}

| Penobscot River

| Replaced {{year|1997}}{{Structurae|id=20017475|title=New Penobscot Bridge (1997)}}

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Piermont Bridge{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=01000630}}|title=NRHP Nomination for Piermont Bridge|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=2022-09-28}}

| {{year|1928}}

| Through truss

| {{flag|New Hampshire}}

| Piermont

| Connecticut River

| Open to traffic

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Point Street Bridge{{cite web|title=Historic Highway Bridges of Rhode Island|url=http://www.preservation.ri.gov/pdfs_zips_downloads/survey_pdfs/hwy_bridges.pdf|publisher=Rhode Island Department of Transportation|page=50|access-date=30 September 2022}}

| {{year|1927}}

| Swing bridge

| {{flag|Rhode Island}}

| Providence

| Providence River

| Open to traffic

scope="row" | 100px

! style=text-align:left | Tyngsborough Bridge{{cite web|url=http://mhc-macris.net/Details.aspx?Mhcid=TYN.900 | title=Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System |publisher=Massachusetts Department of Transportation|access-date=30 September 2022}}

| {{year|1930}}

| Pratt-type truss{{cite news|last1=Collins|first1=John|title=Tyngsboro Bridge is under repair|url=http://www.lowellsun.com/local/ci_12767526|access-date=30 September 2022|publisher=The Lowell Sun|date=July 7, 2009}}

| {{flag|Massachusetts}}

| Tyngsborough

| Merrimack River

| Open to traffic

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

{{Commons category|Boston Bridge Works|position=left|italics=no}}

{{Portal bar|New England}}

Category:Engineering companies of the United States