| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
2021 -
The 1906 Lynn Line Road Bridge (P-71-914) carries Lynn Line Road over the east fork of the Black River in the Town of Rock, Wood County. The Lynn Line Road Bridge is a single-span, steel, pin-connected, Pratt half-hip pony truss with diagonals, stone abutments and wingwalls, and a bituminous deck. The bridge is 43 feet in length and the deck measures 16 feet wide. The truss structure consists of three panels with verticals in tension and diagonals in compression, signifying a Pratt truss. The bridge lacks hip vertical members in the end panels, making it a half-hip variation. While all major bridge members are pin-connected, some members are fastened to the pins with riveted and bolted plates. The bridge sits on stone abutments with wingwalls and concrete caps.
Several articles in The Marshfield News appear to report the construction of the Lynn Line Road Bridge in 1906. An August 9 column describes that “piers are completed,” referring to the stone abutments, and another on August 30 announces that the metal truss members arrived in Lindsey. Finally, on September 6, the newspaper reports that a “Mr. Clark from Milwaukee” assembled what it describes as the “iron work” for the bridge. Despite this mention in the newspaper, the original bridge builder is not known. Remnants of a bridge plate were observed in the field, but only retains the letters “WIS” and did not identify a specific builder, and likely referred to the bridge number or location. A steel imprint from the Jones & Laughlin Steel Company of Pittsburgh on a floorbeam indicates that that company provided the structural steel for the truss. The configuration of the bridge and its mixture of pinned, riveted, and bolted connections, which appear to be original, suggest that some elements may have been shop-riveted with the larger pieces bolted together on location using hexagonal bolts. This “pre-assembly” was a common fabrication technique for truss bridges in Wisconsin. |
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| Bibliographic References: | “Lindsey.” The Marshfield News, August 30, 1906.
“Lindsey.” The Marshfield News, September 6, 1906.
“West Rock.” The Marshfield News, August 9, 1906.
Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Historic Highway Bridges in Wisconsin, Volume 2: Truss Bridges. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 1998. |
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