Centennial Bridge was a historic stone
arch bridge
An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...
located in
Center Valley, Pennsylvania
Center Valley is an unincorporated community located one mile north of Coopersburg, at the intersection of Pennsylvania State Routes 309 and 378 in Upper Saucon Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lehigh ...
in the
Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...
region of eastern
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. It was built in 1876, and was a bridge, with three , horseshoe shaped arches. It crossed
Saucon Creek
Saucon Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvan ...
.
[ ''Note:'' This includes ]
History
19th century
The proposal for the bridge was created by local farmers for a safer means to transport their cattle and dairy products to market. The east side of Center Valley was known as Milk Town because of its many dairy farms. The west side of Center Valley had a rail station part of the
North Pennsylvania Railroad
North Pennsylvania Railroad was a railroad company which served Philadelphia, Montgomery County, Bucks County and Northampton County in Pennsylvania. It was formed in 1852, and began operation in 1855. The Philadelphia and Reading Railway, pr ...
which opened on December 26, 1856. The two sides of the valley were separated by the Saucon Creek, which proved to be a formidable hazard, especially in poor weather.
In 1874, the Allentown & Coopersburg Turnpike opened and sparked further interest in building a bridge. August 2, 1875, the Lehigh County grand jury recommended to county Commissioners Jacob Leiby (of the nearby
Jacob Leiby Farm), Jesse Solliday and Daniel Lauer that the bridge be built. That September 13, the commissioners allocated $1,200 for the bridge. The turnpike's owner, Enos Erdman, was contracted for most of the construction and the bridge opened on September 18, 1876. A local legend persists that
penal labour
Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included in ...
was used to build the bridge, although all records point to contracted laborers under the employ of Erdmen.
20th century
Repairs were made to the Centennial Bridge in 1918 and in 1933. County inspectors described the bridge as being in “fair shape.” In 1936, the state Highways Department took over responsibility for the bridge from the county. Unlike the surrounding roads, the bridge was never expanded or renovated to handle large motor vehicles. The bridge was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1988.
After 116 years of use, on April 2, 1992, the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, Michael B. Carroll. PennDOT ...
closed the bridge after a large crack was discovered in the supporting arches and the bridge was deemed unsafe.
The bridge was demolished in 2013.
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{NRHP bridges
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania
Bridges completed in 1876
Bridges in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
National Register of Historic Places in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
Stone arch bridges in the United States