Old Blenheim Bridge

Old Blenheim Bridge
HAER photo in 2004
Carries	Vehicles (1855–1936) Pedestrians (1936–2011)
Crosses	Schoharie Creek
Locale	North Blenheim, NY
Characteristics
Design	double-barreled Long truss with center arch covered bridge
Total length	232 ft 0 in (70.7 m)
Width	26 ft 3 in (8.0 m)
Height	30 feet (9.1 m)
Longest span	210 feet (64 m)
History
Designer	Nichols M. Powers
Opened	1855
Collapsed	August 28, 2011
Old Blenheim Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Former U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	North Blenheim, NY
Coordinates
Area	Schoharie County
Built	1854–1855
Architect	Nichols Montgomery Powers
NRHP Reference #	66000570
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated NHL	January 29, 1964
Delisted NHL	July 21, 2015

Old Blenheim Bridge was a wooden covered bridge that spanned Schoharie Creek in North Blenheim, New York, United States. With an open span of 210 feet (64 m), it had the longest span of any surviving single-span covered bridge in the world, although the structure's total length made it second in that respect to the Bridgeport Covered Bridge (233 feet (71 m) long with a 208 feet (63 m) clear span). The bridge, opened in 1855, was also one of the oldest of its type in the United States. It was destroyed on August 28, 2011, as a result of flooding from Tropical Storm Irene.

History

Nichols Montgomery Powers was brought in from Vermont to build the bridge by a group of local business men who formed the Blenheim Bridge Company for the purpose of constructing this bridge. The bridge opened in 1855, and remained in use for vehicles until 1932, when a steel truss bridge was constructed near-by. Since then, the bridge was maintained as a historic site open to pedestrians. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

On August 28, 2011, record flooding along the Schoharie Creek, due to Tropical Storm Irene, resulted in the bridge being washed away and completely destroyed.

Longest bridge

Many sources simply claimed the Old Blenheim Bridge was the longest surviving single-span covered bridge, without getting into span-length vs. total-length. There are also sources that claim the Bridgeport Covered Bridge in California is longer. The New York Covered Bridge Society states that Blenheim bridge was 2 feet (0.61 m) longer than "a bridge in California" (presumably Bridgeport), in terms of clear span. Blenheim's clear span was originally 219 feet (67 m), according to this website.

A report by the U.S. Department of the Interior states that the Bridgeport Covered Bridge (HAER No. CA-41) has clear spans of 210 feet (64 m) on one side and 208 feet (63 m) on the other, while Blenheim Bridge (HAER No. NY-331) had a documented clear span of 210 feet (64 m) in the middle (1936 HABS drawings). In August 2003, measurements of post-repair Blenheim Bridge abutments were 209 feet 2 inches (63.75 m) on the upstream side, and 205 feet 6 inches (62.64 m) on the downstream side.

Historically, the longest single-span covered bridge on record was Pennsylvania's McCall's Ferry Bridge with a claimed clear span of 360 feet (110 m) (built 1814–15, destroyed by ice jam 1817).

Gallery

• Old Blenheim Bridge Alternate 11Mar2008.jpg

  Oblique view as photographed from up the hill on the eastern shore

• 

  The span of the Old Blenheim Bridge as photographed 11 March 2008.

• 

  Old Blenheim Bridge NYS Education Dept. Historical Marker (with bridge in background) as photographed 29 May 2009

• OldBlenheimBridgeRNHLMarker.jpg

  Registered National Historic Landmark Plaque

See also

• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in New York
• Smolen–Gulf Bridge - longest covered bridge (with multiple spans) in the United States

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Photos of Blenheim Covered Bridge by Douglas Kerr
• Photos of Blenheim Covered Bridge by Charles Peifer
• Blenheim Bridge, at New York State Covered Bridge Society
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NY-359, "Blenheim Covered Bridge, Spanning Schoharie River, North Blenheim, Schoharie County, NY", 2 photos, 4 measured drawings, 6 data pages, supplemental material
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NY-331, "Blenheim Bridge, Spanning Schoharie Creek, River Road (now bypassed, North Blenheim, Schoharie County, NY", 13 photos, 13 data pages, 1 photo caption page
• Old Blenheim Bridge at Structurae