Fallasburg Covered Bridge
Coordinates: 42 ° 58 ′ 49 ″ N , 85 ° 19 ′ 37 ″ W.
| Fallasburg Covered Bridge | ||
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| Convicted | Covered Bridge Road | |
| Crossing of | Flat River | |
| place | Lowell (Michigan) | |
| Entertained by | Kent County Road Commission | |
| construction | covered wooden truss bridge | |
| overall length | 30.5 m | |
| width | 3.9 m | |
| Longest span | 29.8 m | |
| Load capacity | 2.7 t | |
| building-costs | $ 1500 | |
| completion | 1871 | |
| location | ||
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Fallasburg Covered Bridge (alternatively Fallassburgh Covered Bridge ) is a 30 m long Brown-timbered covered bridge, which was built in 1871 in the Vergennes Township in Michigan (USA) and is 8 km north of Lowell on the Flat River .
It runs the Covered Bridge Road across the river and is within the Fallasburg Historical District south of Whites Bridge and Smyrna. It is on the National Register of Historic Places .
Building
The construction of the bridge is based on the Brown framework. Josiah Brown of Buffalo patented the system in 1857 . This construction is braced similar to the Howe arrangement, but uses lighter links and less wood. It contains no upright compression links and uses no iron parts, with the exception of the bolt connections at the wooden crossings. The builders successfully used the Brown design on at least four covered bridges in Michigan, three of which - the Ada Covered Bridge , Whites Bridge, and these - still exist today. The Brown girder design was quite popular in Michigan, but couldn't catch on anywhere else.
Today the span lies on foundations made of concrete and field stones , which were installed at both ends in 1905. The building is designed in the typical manner with a frame structure on which a gable roof with creosote - shingles sitting. The supporting structure are timber framing from silk pines from Greenville (Michigan) and is clad on the outside with raw pine boards. The floor of the bridge is around 4 m wide and 30 m long.
There is a warning sign on both portals that reads: "$ 5 fine for riding or driving faster on this bridge than when walking."
history
The Flat River area was settled by two brothers who came from Tompkins County , New York. John W. and Silas S. Fallas settled here in 1837, founded the village, which developed into a rest stop on the main carriage route between Ionia and Grand Rapids , and built up a manufacture of chairs, which was an important precursor for the furniture industry in the area of Grand Rapids is considered to have built a sawmill and a flour mill .
Today's bridge is at least the second structure that crossed the river at this point. We know that a bridge was built here as early as 1840, but it was destroyed by ice and floods. It is believed that at least one other predecessor structure was built that was similarly destroyed, but the records are inaccurate. In 1871, Jared N. Bresee, the builder of the Ada Covered Bridge in the nearby Ada Township, was commissioned to build the structure that still exists today. The construction costs amounted to 1,500 US dollars .
Over time, the bridge was repaired and strengthened. The original bridgeheads were replaced with concrete in 1905 and two other major renovations took place in 1945 and 1994. However, because the various repairs paid sufficient attention to the details, the bridge has retained its historical integrity and original character.
The adjacent site of the former wheat mill in 2003 was the subject of an archaeological excavation by experts at Michigan Technological University .
The Fallasburg Covered Bridge was entered on the Michigan state register as a monument in 1959 . It was given a Michigan Historical Marker (# S0197) in September 1971 and added to the National Register on March 16, 1972. The bridge has been within the Fallasburg Historic District since March 31, 1999 .
Usage today
The bridge is still available for motor vehicle traffic. It is in what is now known as the Fallasburg Pioneer Village . There is a weight limit of 2.7 tons. Along with Whites Bridge and Zehnder's Holz Brucke, it is one of only three covered bridges that are still open to road traffic in Michigan. The nomination for the National Register of Historic Places states:
- “The picturesque location of Fallasburg Park brings the Fallasburg Covered Bridge to perfection. The rural location and the quality of the construction contributed to the survival in a time when the old covered bridges were destroyed to make way for new road structures. "
Web links
- Covered Bridge Road Bridge . Datasheet on the Historic Bridges of the United States website (bridgehunter.com)
- Fallasburg Bridge. In: Structurae
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Fallashburg Covered Bridge page ( English ) In: West Michigan Tourist Association . Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
- ↑ White's Covered Bridge page ( English ) In: West Michigan Tourist Association . Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
- ↑ Fallasburg Pioneer Village page ( English ) In: Michigan Historical Markers . Retrieved September 6, 2008.
- ^ Archaeologists Studying Historic 19th-Century Grist Mill Site ( English ) Michigan Technological University . Retrieved September 6, 2008.
- ↑ Fallasburg Bridge page ( English ) In: Michigan Historical Markers site . Retrieved September 6, 2008: “ John W. and Silas S. Fallas settled here in 1837, founded a village which soon boasted a chair factory, sawmill, and gristmill. About 1840 the first of several wooden bridges was placed across the Flat River, but all succumbed in a short time to high water and massive spring ice jams. Bridge builder Jared N. Bresee of Ada was given a contract in 1871 to build the present structure. Constructed at a cost of $ 1500, the bridge has lattice work trusses made of white pine timbers. As in all covered bridges, the roof and siding serve to protect the bridge timbers from rot. Repairs in 1905 and 1945 have kept the bridge safe for traffic for one hundred years. "
- ↑ a b Michigan - Kent County ( English ) In: National Register Of Historic Places site . Retrieved September 6, 2008.
- ↑ National Register Data Spreadsheet ( English , MS Excel ; 1.4 MB) In: Midwestbridges site (bridges.midwestplaces.com) . Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 6, 2008.
