Skew Arch Bridge (Reading, Pennsylvania)
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The Skew Arch Bridge in
Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; ) is a city in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fourth-most populous ...
, also known as the Askew Bridge and nicknamed the Soap and Whiskey Bridge, is an historic
skew arch A skew arch (also known as an oblique arch) is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and it ...
bridge that was completed in 1857. Its design enabled it to carry two tracks of the
Philadelphia and Reading Railroad The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and freight transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states from 1924 until its acquisition by Conrail in 1976. Commonly called the Reading Railro ...
(P&R) at an angle over Sixth Street in Reading,
Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading, the fourth-most populous city in the state. The ...
,
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 ...
.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for hist ...
, 1972, NRHP Nomination Form for Askew BridgeEnter "public" for ID and "public" for password to access the site.
This bridge was acquired by
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...
after the P&R's demise in 1976 and was transferred to
Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
in 1999., page 1, accessed 2012-03-27


History

The bridge was designed in 1856 by Richard Osborne, who submitted a pre-construction model to the company. Workers were partially paid with whiskey and pieces of soap, rather than entirely in cash, leading to the structure's unusual nickname. pages 320-321, page 2, accessed 2011-04-02 The main arch of the bridge spans , with two smaller arches spanning the sidewalks on either side. The courses of the arch were constructed from local brownstone in elliptical curves that follow the angle at which the railroad tracks cross the street. As a result, there is no keystone in the arch. In 1951, the
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, responsible for the collection, conservation, and interpretation of Pennsylvania's heritage. The commission cares for hist ...
placed a
historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...
on the site; in 1973 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 ...
.Skew Bridge
ExplorePAhistory.com, accessed April 2, 2011.


Gallery

HABS Skew Bridge Reading.jpg, View of the courses of the arch, 1999 Skew Bridge.JPG, From the southeast, 2011


See also

*
List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania __NOTOC__ The following bridges in Pennsylvania are documented by the Historic American Engineering Record. Bridges See also * List of tunnels documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Notes References {{A ...


References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Reading, Pennsylvania Bridges completed in 1857 Railroad bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Bridges in Berks County, Pennsylvania Skew arch bridges Historic American Engineering Record in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania 1857 establishments in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Reading, Pennsylvania Stone arch bridges in the United States