The Starr Mill Road Bridge is a historic bridge in

Middletown, Connecticut Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States, Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, it is south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated by English settler ...

. It is a single span Warren through truss bridge, spanning the

Coginchaug River The Coginchaug River in Connecticut, with a watershed including 39 sq mi of forests, pastures, farmland, industrial, and commercial areas, is the main tributary of the Mattabesset River. It is 16.1 mi long, and the river flows northwards fro ...

near the

Starr Mill Two 19th century factory buildings are sited on a bank beside Starr Mill pond on Beverly Heights just off Middlefield Street. Each building is 3½ stories tall, and overlooks a picturesque pond and woods to the west; a parking lot packed with truc ...

complex on the west bank of the river. Built in 1927 by the Berlin Construction Company, it is one of a shrinking number of period metal truss bridges in the state. The bridge was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1993. It is closed to all forms of passage.

Description and history

The Starr Mill Road Bridge is located in western Middletown, spanning the Coginchaug River just below (east of) the Starr Mill dam. It is accessible via Middlefield Road (

Connecticut Route 157 Route 157 is a state highway in central Connecticut from northwestern Durham, through Middlefield to Middletown. Route description Route 157 begins as Skeet Club Road at an intersection with Route 68 in the northwestern corner of Durham. It he ...

) on the south, and Beverly Heights, the mill access road, on the north. The bridge is long with a roadway wide, and stands about above the river on concrete abutments, which were poured over rubble abutments of earlier bridges. The bridge deck and structure are in deteriorating condition. The bridge was built by the city in 1927, as a part of a bridge-building program in the outer portions of the city. The bridge was constructed by the Berlin Construction Company, one of Connecticut's leading bridge makers of the early 20th century. The company was created by principals of the

Berlin Iron Bridge Company The Berlin Iron Bridge Company was a Berlin, Connecticut company that built iron bridges and buildings that were supported by iron. It is credited as the architect of numerous bridges and buildings now listed on the U.S. National Register of His ...

after that company was merged into the American Bridge Company, and continued to be a major regional supplier of bridge trusses until they were broadly supplanted in road engineering practices by steel girder bridges. The bridge has an unusual combination of riveted and bolted joints, an indication of the difficulty of performing riveting in the field.

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Starr Mill Road Bridge
{{National Register of Historic Places Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Middletown, Connecticut Bridges completed in 1927 Bridges in Middlesex County, Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut Warren truss bridges in the United States 1927 establishments in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References

External links