Encyclopedia > Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge (Columbia, Pennsylvania)
The Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge once carried the York Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. It and its predecessors were a vital commercial and passenger linkage between Philadelphia and Baltimore for over 100 years. The Susquehanna River is a river in the northeastern United States. ...
York County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ...
Lancaster County is a county located in the south-central portion of the state of Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. ...
1893 map The Pennsylvania Railroad (AAR reporting mark PRR) was an American railroad that was founded in 1846 and merged in 1968 into Penn Central Transportation. ...
1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...
1893 map The Pennsylvania Railroad (AAR reporting mark PRR) was an American railroad that was founded in 1846 and merged in 1968 into Penn Central Transportation. ...
The Susquehanna River is a river in the northeastern United States. ...
Wrightsville is a borough located in York County, Pennsylvania. ...
Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City, the City that Loves You Back Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country State County United States Pennsylvania Philadelphia Founded Incorporated October 27, 1682 October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Area - City 369. ...
Nickname: Monument City, Charm City, Mob Town, B-more Motto: Get In On It (formerly The City That Reads and The Greatest City in America; BELIEVE is not the official motto but rather a specific campaign) Location of Baltimore in Maryland Coordinates: Country State County United States Maryland Independent City...
Earlier bridges on the site
Several bridges have been built on the site, with the first wooden covered bridge erected in the early 1820s to replace a nearby smaller toll bridge immediately upriver that had been destroyed by ice. Set on 26 stone piers, the new massive oaken structure was the longest covered bridge in the world (over a mile and a quarter in length). It used timber salvaged from the previous bridge and provided a link for the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad to the Northern Central Railway, as well as for carriages, pedestrians and wagons. A towpath on the southern wall enabled teams of horses or mules to pull boats from the Mainline Canal on the Columbia side to the Tidewater and Susquehanna Canal on the Wrightsville side. A covered bridge is a bridge, often single-lane, with enclosed sides and a roof. ...
Map The Main Line of Public Works was a railroad and canal system built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, running from Philadelphia west across the state to Pittsburgh. ...
The Northern Central Railway was a rail line connecting Baltimore, Maryland with Sunbury, Pennsylvania. ...
This bridge was burned by state militia in July 1863 to block elements of the Confederate States Army under Brig. Gen. John Brown Gordon from crossing into Lancaster County shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg. For the rest of the war, cargo and passengers had to be laboriously ferried across the broad Susquehanna River. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
Some Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army (CSA) was formed in February 1861 to defend the Confederate States of America, which had itself been formed that same year when seven southern states seceded from the United States (with four more to follow). ...
John Brown Gordon John Brown Gordon (February 6, 1832 – January 9, 1904) served as one of Robert E. Lees most trusted generals during the American Civil War. ...
Lancaster County is a county located in the south-central portion of the state of Pennsylvania in the Susquehanna Valley. ...
Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America Commanders George G. Meade Robert E. Lee Strength 83,289 75,054 Casualties 23,049 (3,155 killed, 14,529 wounded, 5,365 captured/missing) 28,000 (3,500 killed, 18,000 wounded, 6,500 captured/missing) The Battle of...
The Columbia Bridge Company constructed another wooden bridge on the same stone piers in the years just after the Civil War, restoring the railroad line. The Pennsylvania Railroad purchased this replacement bridge in 1879, but it was destroyed by a severe windstorm in 1896. These bridges were each known as the "Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge." 1893 map The Pennsylvania Railroad (AAR reporting mark PRR) was an American railroad that was founded in 1846 and merged in 1968 into Penn Central Transportation. ...
Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge The last bridge on the site was built in 1896, just 29 days after the destruction of the previous wooden bridge. A steel truss bridge made of 200-foot long prefabricated sections, it carried a single railroad track for the PRR, as well as a two-lane roadway. It was designed to be fire-resistant and flood/ice-resistant, elements that had destroyed previous wooden structures. Like the previous bridges, tolls were collected for passage to recover a portion of the half million dollar investment. 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
As orginally envisioned, the new bridge was to have had two decks, the bottom one for trains and the upper for other traffic. The top deck was never added, and freight and passenger trains shared the planked lower deck with carriages, wagons, and [later] with automobiles and trucks crossing the river on the Lincoln Highway. Lincoln Highway bridge in Tama, Iowa The Lincoln Highway was the first transcontinental highway in the United States. ...
In 1930, automobile traffic was rerouted to the newly constructed Veterans Memorial Bridge, just downstream. The steel bridge reverted to only being used by the railroad, although usage eventually diminished considerably as commercial truck traffic increased on yet another bridge constructed nearby, the Wright's Ferry Bridge on U.S. Route 30. The track was removed and the bridge dismantled in 1963. The stone piers are still present in the river. A historical marker now commemorates the history of the bridge. 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...
The Columbia-Wrightsville Bridge, officially the Veterans Memorial Bridge, and once called the Lancaster-York Intercounty Bridge, is a reinforced concrete arch bridge that spans the Susquehanna River between Columbia and Wrightsville, Pennsylvania. ...
U.S. Route 30 is an east-west main route of the system of United States Numbered Highways. ...
1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ...
References - Mingus, Scott L., Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition. Columbus, Ohio: Ironclad Publishing, 2006.
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