Railroad/Road Bridge in Maine

I just came across this apparently unique bridge in the HABS/HAER archives.  The Free-Black bridge spans the Androscoggin River between Brunswick and Topsham, Maine.  It carries a branch of the Maine Central on top, and a single lane road bridge suspended below.

Free-Black Bridge, Brunswick-Topsham, Maine.
Photo by Jet Lowe for HABS/HAER.

The following picture gives you a better idea of how the roadway is suspended from the steel truss railway bridge.

Free-Black Bridge Road Deck, Brunswick-Topsham, Maine.
Photo by Jet Lowe for HABS/HAER.

This bridge was built in 1909, and I was afraid it might have been demolished since Jet Lowe took these pictures in 1994, but a check of Bing Maps shows that it is still there.

Free-Black Bridge, Brunswick-Topsham, Maine.
From Bing Maps

According to an article in The Forecaster,

After a driver struck a support beam on the one-lane bridge in early April, the DOT closed the bridge and engineers discovered the pressure-treated wooden guard rails were rotting.

The bridge is now closed to traffic, but it's still there, so I'll have to go see it.

Jet Lowe in Cleveland

In the summer of 1979, Jet Lowe took a series of photographs of these huge machines used to unload ore from ships on Lake Erie. In this photograph, you can see a ship  (the George M. Carl) docked to the left of the massive Hulett ore unloaders.  Downtown Cleveland is in the distance.

Pennsylvania Railway Ore Dock, Lake Erie at
Whiskey Island, approximately 1.5 miles west of
Public Square, Cleveland, Cuyahoga, OH

The unloader operator could drop the ore directly into waiting rail cars for immediate shipping, or deposit it in the storage yard to the left.

Jet Lowe in Northampton

This bridge, built in 1897, carried the Boston & Maine Railroad across the Connecticut River just above Northampton. Today it is part of the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Jet Lowe took these pictures in 1984 for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).

See also my earlier post about this bridge.

Detail view looking north
Detail view looking East showing lattice truss configuration and bridge plate at far right

Iron and Steel, Birmingham, Alabama

Tenn. Coal Iron & R.R. Co.'s furnaces at Ensley, Birmingham, Ala., 1909

From the panoramic photograph collection at the Library of Congress.

Steelmill and workers' houses. Birmingham, Alabama.

Walker Evans took this iconic photograph of the TCI steel mills in March of 1936 for the Farm Security Administration (FSI).

1. Jack E. Boucher, Photographer, March 1974. GENERAL VIEW FROM THE EAST SHOWING THE 'PIG MACHINE', THE #1 CASTING SHED AND THE #1 FURNACE IN THE FOREGROUND.
HAER ALA,37-BIRM,4-1
Jack Boucher took this photograph of the Sloss Steelworks in 1974 for HABS/HAER.

121. Close up view of 1929 Allis-Chalmers steam turbine with engine housing removed.
HAER ALA,37-BIRM,4-121

Jack Boucher took this photograph in 1974 for HABS/HAER.

Louise Taft Cawood in Ohio

Scioto River Bridge

Louise Taft Cawood took this picture in July 1986 for the HABS/HAER project.

HABS/HAER information:
Scioto Pennsylvania Through Truss Bridge, Spanning Scioto River at State Route 73, Portsmouth, Scioto County, OH
1. VIEW LOOKING ACROSS RECENTLY CULTIVATED FIELD, WITH BRIDGE IN DISTANT BACKGROUND
HAER OHIO,73-PORT,1-1

Jack Boucher in Pittsburgh

Jack Boucher took these photographs at Jones and Laughlin Steel in May 1974 for the HABS/HAER project.

Jones and Laughlin Steel, Pittsburgh
VIEW OF JONES AND LAUGHLIN FROM OAKLAND, LOOKING SOUTH. LEFT: HOT METAL BRIDGE; CENTER: OPEN HEARTH.
HAER PA,2-PITBU,62A-9

Valve, Jones and Laughlin Steel
Jack E. Boucher, Photographer, May 1974. GOVERNOR.


And this of the beautiful Smithfield Street bridge (also in May 1974):
Smithfield Street Bridge
Jack E. Boucher, Photographer, May, 1974. DETAIL VIEW OF THE NORTHEAST PORTAL FROM ROADWAY (WITH TROLLEY).
HAER PA,2-PITBU,58-15

Bethlehem Steel

Bethlehem Steel Works.
This image, which is part of the panoramic collection of the Library of Congress, was taken from the north bank of the Lehigh River by William Herman Rau in 1896.

Bethlehem graveyard and steel mill. Pennsylvania.
Walker Evans took this photograph for the Farm Security Administration from a cemetery in South Bethlehem looking north toward the works. (1935, FSI collection of Library of Congress)

Update (9/11/2019): this is what the view likes today (thanks to Google street view):

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (via Google street view)

Bethlehem Steel Corporation, South Bethlehem Works, Along Lehigh River, North of Fourth Street, West of Minsi Trail Bridge, Bethlehem, Northampton County, PA
Jet Lowe took this picture in 1972  1979 for the HABS/HAER project, looking downstream from the north side of the Lehigh River.

Bethlehem Steel is now bankrupt, and stopped operating the Bethlehem works in 1995. Most of the site is now being developed as a casino by the Sands Corporation of Las Vegas.

Jack Alvarez at the Charles Street Jail

Boston, Massachusetts
Rehabilitation may not work for prisoners, but it seems to have worked for the old Charles Street Prison in Boston. Here's a picture taken by Jack Alvarez for the HABS/HAER project:

Charles Street Prison

Over the last couple of years, the prison has been renovated into the Liberty Hotel, with rooms starting at about $300 per night. Here's the new look:

The Liberty Hotel

Joseph Elliott in Southern New Jersey

Whitesbog Village, Burlington Country, NJ

Southern New Jersey is peopled mostly by a half-mile wide strip of humanity along the shore and another crowd near Philadelphia to the west. In between are miles of pine barrens, tidal marshes, sand roads, cranberry bogs, and dozens of small rivers. It's mostly flat, so sometimes you can see all the way to the horizon.


If you want to read the classic work on this region, find John McPhee's The Pine Barrens.

Joseph Elliott took this picture near Whitesbog Village & Cranberry Bog, Whitesbog Road, Pemberton Township, Burlington County, NJ, for the HABS/HAER project. The year was not listed, but from the cars I saw in some of the pictures, it looks as though he took these pictures sometime since 1990. In any case, the terrain has not changed much in many years.

Jet Lowe in Houston

Astrodome ceiling, Houston, Texas. (Jet Lowe photograph)

Baseball season again. Though the Astrodome no longer hosts either baseball or football, the Astros played here for more than 30 years. And in 2005, many people from New Orleans found temporary shelter here as they fled Hurricane Katrina. There are more than 9 acres under this roof. Jet Lowe took this picture in 2004 for the HABS/HAER project.

Jack Boucher on Connie Mack Stadium

Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium

Jack Boucher took this picture of Connie Mack Stadium in downtown Philadelphia in September of 1973. The Phillies and the Eagles moved out to Veterans Stadium in 1971, and Connie Mack was torn down in 1976. The Phillies have a nice new ballpark (currently called Citizens Bank Park), and I don't think there are too many tears shed over Veterans Stadium. Except that that Phillies did win their World Series there in 1980.

When I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, we used to drive in to the city, have dinner in Chinatown and go see the Phillies. My mom reminded me the other day that often some kids would offer to "watch our car" for a dollar. Connie Mack Stadium was not in a great neighborhood, which I guess was one reason the Phillies opted to move to the Vet.

There's a great history of Shibe Park (Connie Mack) with some nice pictures at Billy Mupp on Connie Mack Stadium. Wikipedia article at Wikipedia on Connie Mack.

George Eisenman on the Dingmans Ferry Bridge

Dingmans Ferry Bridge

This bridge from Layton, New Jersey to Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania spans the Delaware River. It is one of the few remaining privately owned toll bridges and the only one on the Delaware. This photograph was taken by George A. Eisenman in August, 1970 for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).

If you're ever in the far northwest of New Jersey, near the magnificent Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, check out this little toll bridge. The bridge is just off the Old Mine Road in New Jersey, said to be the oldest continuously used road in the U.S.

Here's the bridge's official web site, including toll information: Dingmans Bridge.

Clayton B. Fraser on the Nebraska City Bridge

Nebraska City Bridge

The Nebraska City Bridge, spanning the Missouri River on a branch (now abandoned) of the Burlington Northern Railroad between Otoe County, Nebraska and Fremont County, Iowa, was completed in July, 1889. This photograph was taken by Clayton B. Fraser in August, 1984, for the HAER project of the Library of Congress.

Jet Lowe in New York, 1984

New torch and flame with Manhattan skyline in background

The Statue of Liberty was refurbished prior to its centennial in 1986. Jet Lowe and Jack Boucher and other HABS/HAER photographers thoroughly documented the operation, taking 230 black and white photographs and 51 color transparencies. These are just the ones that show up on the Library of Congress web site: I'm sure they took many more exposures.

Jet Lowe took this photograph of the new torch with its gold leaf in 1984. The title is: New torch and flame with Manhattan skyline in background.

Jet Lowe in California

Los Angeles aqueduct

Jet Lowe, 2001, near Inyo/Bishop for HAER. Jawbone Canyon section of the Los Angeles aqueduct.

Frank Ontaverous in White Sands, New Mexico

McDonald Ranch

The McDonald ranch house at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Photograph taken by Frank Ontaverous in February 1983 for the HABS/HAER project. Scientists and technicians from the Manhattan project assembled the plutonium bomb for the first atomic bomb test in this house during July of 1945. The blast, centered only about two miles away, blew the windows out of the ranch house, but the adobe structure survived with little damage and was restored in 1984 by the National Park Service.

If you like a good story with science, politics, war, and tragedy, check out Richard Rhodes' The Making of the Atomic Bomb.

Jet Lowe in Windsor, Vermont

Cornish-Windsor bridge
The Cornish-Windsor covered bridge spans the Connecticut River between Cornish, New Hampshire and Windsor, Vermont. Constructed in 1866, the two spans measure 203 feet and 204 feet long. These photographs were taken in 1984 by Jet Lowe for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER).

Cornish-Windsor bridge underside

Jet Lowe in Hancock, New Hampshire

Hancock-Greenfield bridgeJet Lowe took this picture of the Hancock-Greenfield bridge in November 2003 for the HABS/HAER project. What impresses me about many of the HABS/HAER photographs (and particularly those of Jet Lowe and Jack Boucher) is that, while they are intended as historical record, many of them are also beautiful, artistic photographs. Jet Lowe has the eye.

Jack Boucher in New Jersey

Pulaski Skyway, Manhattan in background

Jack Boucher took this picture of the Pulaski Skyway in 1978 for the HABS/HAER project at the Library of Congress.

Gary Samson in Concord

Concord gasholder house

Gary Samson teaches at the New Hampshire Institute of Art in Manchester. He took these photographs of the old Concord gasholder house in August of 1982 for the HABS/HAER project of the Library of Congress.

Concord gasholder house, interior view


This shot is looking up at the cupola of the old gasholder house.