The Caledonia Bowstring Bridge is a historic bridge in the village of

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Built in the 1870s but no longer in use, it has been named a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

. In 1873, local officials arranged with the

Wrought Iron Bridge Company The Wrought Iron Bridge Company was a bridge fabrication and construction company based in Canton, Ohio, Canton, Ohio, United States. It specialized in the fabrication of iron truss bridges and was a prolific bridge builder in the late 19th centu ...

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

for the construction of a

bowstring arch bridge A tied-arch bridge is an arch bridge in which the outward horizontal forces of the arch(es) caused by tension at the arch ends to a foundation are countered by equal tension of its own gravity plus any element of the total deck structure such grea ...

over the

Scioto River The Scioto River ( ) is a river in central and southern Ohio more than in length. It rises in Hardin County just north of Roundhead, Ohio, flows through Columbus, Ohio, where it collects its largest tributary, the Olentangy River, and meets t ...

. The completed bridge features lattice bracing over the deck, which enabled the design to have both vertical and horizontal support at a low cost.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2.

St. Clair Shores St. Clair Shores is a suburban city bordering Lake St. Clair in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms a part of the Metro Detroit area, and is located about northeast of downtown Detroit. Its population was 59,715 at the 2010 ...

: Somerset, 1999, 971-972. Its structure combines elements of iron and steel. In 1976, the Marion County Engineer decided to remove the bridge from its original location in order to build a new bridge at its original location. Instead of destroying it, the engineer's office moved it to Caledonia, where village officials arranged for its placement across the

Olentangy River The Olentangy River is a tributary of the Scioto River in Ohio, United States. History It was originally called ''keenhongsheconsepung'', a Delaware word literally translated as "sharp tool river", based on the shale found along its shores. ...

in order to provide access to a community park. Four years later, 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 ...

, qualifying both because of its place in Ohio's history and as an example of historically important methods of construction. Despite village officials' plans, by 2011 the bridge was abandoned and overgrown.Photograph in infobox

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Bridges completed in 1873 Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Buildings and structures in Marion County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Marion County, Ohio Former road bridges in the United States Relocated buildings and structures in Ohio Tied arch bridges in the United States Wrought iron bridges in the United States Steel bridges in the United States