The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. The firm has built many bridges in the U.S. and elsewhere; the Historic American Engineering Record notes at least 81. American Bridge has also built or helped build the Willis Tower, the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...

, the Chrysler Building, launch pads, resorts, and more. During World War II, it produced

tank landing ships A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...

(LSTs) for the United States Navy. In 2020, American Bridge Company was acquired by Southland Holdings LLC.

History

American Bridge Company was founded in April 1900, when J.P. Morgan & Co. led a consolidation of 28 of the largest U.S. steel fabricators and constructors. The company's roots extend to the late 1860s, when one of the consolidated firms,

Keystone Bridge Company Keystone or key-stone or ''variation'', may refer to: * Keystone (architecture), a central stone or other piece at the apex of an arch or vault * Keystone (cask), a fitting used in ale casks Business * Keystone Law, a full-service law firm * D ...

, built the Eads Bridge at St. Louis, the first steel bridge over the Mississippi River and still in use. In 1902, the company became a subsidiary of United States Steel as part of the Steel Trust consolidation. The company pioneered the use of steel as a construction material; developing the means and methods for fabrication and construction that allowed it to be widely used in buildings, bridges, vessels, and other plate applications. It went on to do work across the nation and around the world. During World War II, the company built warships for the U.S. Navy. In 1944, American painter Thomas Hart Benton recorded the construction and launch of LST 768, producing numerous drawings and a painting, ''Cut the Line''. The company went private in 1987 and was sold to Continental Engineering Corporation in 1988. The town of Ambridge, Pennsylvania, was an American Bridge

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

(thus the name "Ambridge"), and is near their current headquarters of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Both municipalities are on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, with access to many steel suppliers, as well as to waterborne and rail transport, to allow shipment of components and subassemblies.

Notable projects

This is a representative list, not an exhaustive one.

Bridges

* 1908

Puente Negro Puente, a word meaning ''bridge'' in Spanish language, may refer to: People * Puente (surname) Places *La Puente, California, USA * Puente Alto, city and commune of Chile * Puente de Ixtla, city in Mexico *Puente Genil, village in the Spanish pro ...

, Culiacan, México * 1926 Hercilio Luz Bridge, Florianópolis, Brazil * 1927 Silver Bridge, Point Pleasant, West Virginia * 1936 Bay Bridge, Oakland, California * 1939

Exchange Street Bridge Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

, Athol, Massachusetts * 1957 Mackinac Bridge, Mackinac Straits, Michigan * 1961 Puente Hermanos Patiño,

Santiago, Dominican Republic Santiago de los Caballeros (; '' en, Saint James of the Knights''), often shortened to Santiago, is the second-largest city in the Dominican Republic and the fourth-largest city in the Caribbean by population. It is the capital of Santiago Prov ...

* 1964 Verrazano-Narrows Bridge,

New York Harbor New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...

* 1997

Macarthur Causeway The General Douglas MacArthur Causeway is a six-lane causeway that connects Downtown Miami to South Beach via Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County. The highway is the singular roadway connecting the mainland and beaches to Watson Island and the ba ...

, Miami, Florida * 2017

Genesee Arch Bridge The Genesee Arch Bridge (also known as the Portage Viaduct or Portage Bridge) is a steel arch railroad bridge over the Genesee River in Letchworth State Park, Livingston County, New York. It is the third bridge at this location: the original timbe ...

, Letchworth State Park, Portageville, New York Built the longest concrete segmental

cable stay bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which wire rope, cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or wikt:stay#Etymology 3, stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, norm ...

in the United States: * 1986 Sunshine Skyway Bridge, Tampa Bay, Florida Built the longest suspension bridge in South America, and one of the longest in Europe: * 1967 Orinoco Bridge, Venezuela * 1966 April 25 Bridge, Lisbon, Portugal Built the world's longest arch bridge on three occasions: * 1977 New River Gorge Bridge, West Virginia, 518 meters, (1,700’) * 1932 Bayonne Bridge,

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

- New Jersey, 504 meters (1,652’) * 1916 Hell Gate Bridge, New York City, 298 meters (978’) Built the world's longest self-supporting continuous truss bridge: * 1966 Astoria Bridge, Oregon, 376 meters (1,232’) Renovations of existing bridges: * 1995 Moved an existing Norfolk Southern vertical lift bridge from Florence, Alabama, to Hannibal, Missouri, * 1998 First aerial spinning for additional main cables on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. April 25 Bridge in Lisbon, Portugal * 2001 First stiffening truss replacement on a loaded, fully operational suspension bridge. Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada * 2002 Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, in a joint venture with Fluor Corporation,

American Bridge-Fluor American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, ...

Buildings

Built the world's tallest building on numerous occasions. * 1930 Chrysler Building, New York City * 1930 Woolworth Building, New York City * 1932

, New York City * 1974 Willis Tower, Chicago Built many other well-known buildings. * 1902

Flatiron Building The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, steel-framed landmarked building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the Boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New ...

, New York City * 1969 John Hancock Center, Chicago * 1969 John Hancock Tower, Boston * 1971

U.S. Steel Tower The U.S. Steel Tower, also known as the Steel Building or USX Tower (1988–2001), is a 64-story skyscraper at 600 Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interior has of leasable space. Standing tall, it is the tallest buil ...

, Pittsburgh * 1971

Disney's Contemporary Resort Disney's Contemporary Resort, originally to be named Tempo Bay Hotel and previously the Contemporary Resort Hotel, is a resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. Opened on October 1, 1971, the hotel is one of two or ...

, Orlando * 1973 Aon Center, Chicago * 1975 Columbia Center, Seattle Built the world's largest building by volume twice. * 1966 Vehicle Assembly Building, Titusville * 1967 Boeing Everett Factory, Everett Built two of the most notable domed stadium structures in the world * 1964 Houston Astrodome * 1974 Louisiana Superdome

Miscellaneous

*Space launch complex jacking for McDonnell Douglas Astronautics (now Boeing) (1994) *Built bottom framework for the unique, modular room units for Walt Disney Company at the

Contemporary Resort Disney's Contemporary Resort, originally to be named Tempo Bay Hotel and previously the Contemporary Resort Hotel, is a resort located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. Opened on October 1, 1971, the hotel is one of two ori ...

in Walt Disney World (1971). *Hammerhead Crane, 350ton Cantilever type, (

Norfolk Naval Shipyard The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, often called the Norfolk Navy Yard and abbreviated as NNSY, is a U.S. Navy facility in Portsmouth, Virginia, for building, remodeling and repairing the Navy's ships. It is the oldest and largest industrial facility tha ...

), (1940) *Hunters Point Gantry Crane, world's largest, 460 ton capacity, ( Hunters Point Naval Shipyard), (1947) * Matterhorn Bobsleds in Disneyland, the steel structure inside the mountain, used 2,175 steel pieces.

Notes

External links

Projects and history

HAER record of at least 81 ABC bridges/projectsAmerican Bridge Company Chronological history
from the company site
Old Economy Village history page
with American Bridge Company history.
News article on American Bridge legacyAnother article on legacy.
{{Authority control Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1900 Bridge companies 1900 establishments in Pennsylvania American companies established in 1900