LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 by Lynne Belluscio There are several views of the old iron bridge over the Oatka Creek on Main Street in LeRoy... three parallel curved arches. As iron bridges go, it didn’t seem to be anything special, but I have learned that to the contrary, the Le Roy bridge may be very special. LeRoy’s iron bridge, which was replaced in 1908, is very significant. Jim Stewart, a retired civil engineer contacted me a while ago about another bridge in LeRoy – the open spandrel cement bridge over Buttermilk Falls. He is a pontist – a person interested in the history and preservation of old bridges. So, I sent him this photograph and he was very - very interested in what I knew about the iron bridge. I sent him a copy of an article I had written for the Historical Society newsletter about the Main Street bridge. My article included LeRoy Gazette references to the iron bridge in 1853. That was critical, because as Jim told me, the iron bridge in LeRoy was a Whipple Bowstring Iron Bridge and if indeed it was built in 1853, it may have been one of the first of Whipple’s bridges. Squire Whipple is known as the “Father of the Modern Iron Bridge.” He was born in 1804 in Hardwick, Massachusetts. His father built and operated a cotton spinning mill in nearby Greenwich, Massachusetts. Squire, at a young age, was exposed to construction operations. In 1817, his family moved to Otsego County, New York, near Cooperstown. Squire attended Hartwick Academy and Fairfield Academy and then attended Union College in Schenectady and graduated in just one year in 1830. He was 26 and began as an apprentice on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and then worked for Holmes Hutchinson on the expansion of the Erie Canal. According to one source, he also designed and built mathematical instruments such as transits, engineer’s levels and drafting equipment. In 1840, it is recorded that he designed and built a weigh lock that was used to weigh canal boats on the Erie Canal in Utica. The weigh lock had a capacity of 300 tons and it was the largest weighing device in the country. It was at this time that Whipple began his career as a bridge builder. Bridges at this time were built of wood and they didn’t last very long. There were a lot of wooden bridges over the Erie Canal. The wooden bridge across the canal at First Street in Utica had fallen in. Whipple was hired by the Canal Commission to build a new bridge. He proposed an iron bridge, but the Commission was skeptical. Whipple borrowed money and built an iron bridge at his own expense to demonstrate the strength of his iron bridge. He patented a bowstring bridge design and during the next ten years, he built several bridges across the canal. In 1852-1853 he built a wrought and castiron bridge over the Albany and Northern Railroad. He built a 146 foot span for the railroad near Watervliet, New York and he built several bridges for the Erie Railroad near Newburgh and Binghamton. Jim Stewart thinks that it is very possible that Squire Whipple built the bridge in LeRoy, so that was why it was important to verify the notations in the LeRoy Gazette. In April 1853, a small note in the Gazette: “(A) Bill to build a bridge across Allen’s Creek in Le Roy passed the Senate on the 8th and cannot fail to pass the assembly. So a great anticipated trouble may yet be averted.” A week later, it was reported that the Assembly had passed the Bill by the “..judicious management of Senator Upham. It allows the Supervisors to levy a tax upon the county not to exceed $5000 for the purpose.” Senator Upham was from LeRoy. He had a carriage factory on Church Street and also manufactured railroad cars. He certainly was interested in keeping transportation issues moving forward in the state government. The state approval did not come too soon for within days the Gazette noted that “About one half of the stone bridge across the creek in this village, caved in by the action of the frost on Thursday... situated as this is, upon the great thoroughfare of the town - being the old state road, over which all the mails and passengers form Albany to Buffalo used to pass, any interruption in transit is seriously felt not alone by the village, but by the whole community for miles around. The demands of the traveling public upon this throughfare are very great and no time should be lost in restoring the means of communication so suddenly cut off.” In August the Gazette reported, “The work of rebuilding the new bridge this week is progressing with commendable strides. Perhaps two weeks more will be required to complete it.” Well, those hopes were dashed. In September 1853, an article included the progress on the new bridge. “The gates were shut down and the pond commenced filling on Saturday night having been off just two weeks. The Commissioners and workmen are entitled to credit for dispatch with which they disposed of a difficult and perplexing job. A strong Iron Bridge is to span the creek from the stone abutments just completed. The expense of this work will necessarily be very great and burdensome for the town, but it will be durable and in the long run cheapest for the public...” By November 9, 1853, the newspaper mentioned that finally the iron for the new bridge had arrived and “..the work of laying it will immediately commence. This will be welcome news to everyone who has occasion to cross the creek at this point. The unavoidable delay in the completion of this bridge has cost our businessmen a considerable sum.” So far, the Gazette does not mention Squire Whipple, so research will continue. An interesting note: An iron railing extended on both sides of the bridge and when the iron bridge was torn down in 1908, the railing was purchased by Mrs. Wolcott of Hillcrest near Linwood. When she learned that St. Mark’s Church wanted to install a railing along the west side of the church property in 1919, she offered to sell what they needed. In 1956, when the Historical Society replaced the back wall of LeRoy House, part of the bridge railing was installed along the back porch. In 1971, the Whipple Bowstring Truss Bridge known as the Normanskill Farm Bridge near Albany was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was originally built in 1867, but was moved to the entrance to the Stevens Farm in 1899. Several years ago, the students at Union College disassembled a Whipple Bow String Bridge located in Fonda and reconstructed it. Squire Whipple wrote a book, “The Way to Happiness” in which the following dedication was written: “The present generation of men, and we know not how many generations after, will trudge along nearly in a path trodden by their fathers, perhaps straightening a bend here, and avoiding a hill or slough there, by slow degrees making the road of life smoother and straighter; and what the final result will be, it is only in our poser at the present time, to conjecture, But it is always well to hope and strive.” Whipple Bowstring Iron Bridge
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