National Register of Historic Places REGISTER Multiple Property Documentation Form

NPS Form 10-900-b $f££\VE*' OMB No. 1024-0018 (June 1991) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places REGISTER Multiple Property Documentation Form This form is used for documenting multiple property groups relating to one ol several historic contexts. See instructions in How to Complete the Multiple Property Documentation Form (National Register Bulletin 16B). Complete each item by entering the requested information. For additional space, use continuation sheets (Form 10-900-a). Use a typewriter, word processor, or computer to complete all items. X New Submission __ Amended Submission A. Name of Multiple Property Listing_________________ Early Stone Arch Bridges of Sonerset County, New Jersey B. Associated Historic Contexts_____________________________________________ (Name each associated historic context, identifying theme, geographical area, and chronological period for each.) Early Stone Arch Bridges of Somerset County, New Jersey, 1786-c. 1890 C. Form Prepared by name/title ^^^ A - Brown organization Cultural Resource Consulting Group___________ date 7/23/92 street & number 54 W^odbridge Avenue tel hone (908) 985-4380 city or town Highland Park________ state _NJ_____________ zjp code 08904 D. Certification As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, I hereby certify that this documentation form meets the National Register documentation standards and sets forth requirements for the listing of related properties consistent with the National Register criteria. This submission meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60 and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and; Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation. (Q See continuation sheet for additional comments.) /j Signatu^and title'of certifying official Date rvh rnrnmi SRI nnp-r fnr Tfo-hTral fc Higt-nrir. Tte^nrr^cj/nSTTPO______ State/for Federal agency and bureau I hereby certify that this multiple property documentation form has been approved by the National Register as a basis for evaluating related properties for listing in the National Register. Signature of the Keeper Date of Action Early Stone Arch Bridges of Somerset County, New Jersey New Jersey Name of Multiple Property Listing State Table of Contents for Written Narrative Provide the following information on continuation sheets. Cite the letter and the title before each section of the narrative. Assign page numbers according to the instructions for continuation sheets in How to Complete the Multiple Property Documentation Form (National Register Bulletin 158). Fill in page numbers for each section in the space below. Page Numbers E. Statement of Historic Contexts 1-10 (If more than one historic context is documented, present them in sequential order.) F. Associated Property Types 1-4 (Provide description, significance, and registration requirements.) G. Geographical Data 1 H. Summary of Identification and Evaluation Methods i •O (D'scuss the methods used in developing the multiple property listing.) •*- ^ I. Major Bibliographical References n c (List major written works and primary location of additional documentation: State Historic Preservation Office, other State agency, Federal agency, local government, university, or other, specifying repository.) Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in aoxrdance with the National Historic Preservation Act. as amended (16 U.S.C. 470 el seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 18.1 hours per response including the time for reviewing Instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding ihis bu-den estimate or any aspect of this form to the Chief, Administrative Services Division, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington. DC 20013-7127' and the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reductions Project (1024-O018), Washington, DC 20503.' NPS Form 10-900-* OMB No. 1024-O018 (J«n. 1987) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number E Page 1 £arty Stone Arch Bridges of Somerset County, /Veiv Jersey STATEMENT OF HISTORIC CONTEXTS: EARLY STONE ARCH BRIDGES OF SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, 1786~ca. 1890 1. Early American Stone Arch Bridges The stone bridge was one of the first types of permanent bridges built in America. The vast majority of stone bridges were arched structures built with materials gathered or quarried nearby. Usually built by local masons, they were relatively small structures. Although stone arch bridges were the most common type of stone bridge, they were still extremely rare in the colonies. This was likely due to their expense and the time it took to build them. Little evidence of their construction in 17th-century America is known to exist. The oldest identified stone arch bridge in the United States that still carries a modern highway is the Frankford Avenue Bridge in Philadelphia. Its earliest section was built in 1697. More stone arch bridges are known to have been built in the 18th century, but documentary references offer little evidence of their form. By 1800 modest structures of crudely finished stones were being constructed in the Middle Atlantic states and in New England (Jackson 1988:18-19; Edwards 1959:34, 135; Condit 1968:32-33, 71-72; Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1986:27.) During the first half of the 19th century, stone bridge construction continued to flourish. Part of the impetus came during the canal era of the second quarter of the century. That era produced a significant number of aqueducts, bridges, and culverts, many of which were built entirely of stone. Railroads, especially in the 1850s, and again in the 1880s and 1890s, provided an impetus for the construction of a significant if modest number of stone arch bridges. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, metal and concrete bridges largely supplanted the stone arch bridge (Condit 1968:33; Plowden 1974:10-12, 29-32). 2. Early New Jersey Stone Arch Bridges Stone arch bridge construction in New Jersey was apparently quite limited, as it was elsewhere in the country, until the last decade or two of the 18th century. Its greatest period of popularity appears to have run from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th. It perhaps again regained some of its popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Even from the end of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century, few stone arch bridges were built, judging from the small number of recorded extant structures. Documentary sources, such as Somerset County's freeholder minutes, indicate that more stone arch bridges were built than NPS Form 10-900-* OMB No. 1024-0018 (Jan. 198?) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number E Page 2 Early Stone Arch Bridget of Somerset County, New Jersey survive. However, this evidence also indicates that stone arch bridges were still far more rare than their frame, or stone and frame, counterparts (Kudless and Kudless 1977). The large majority of New Jersey's extant and documentary stone arch bridges are road bridges. In the late 1820s and early 1830s some stone arch culverts, aqueducts, and bridges were built for the state's two major canals, the Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Morris Canal. The railroads also constructed stone arch bridges in the state in the latter half of the century. The two earliest recorded, extant, dated stone arch bridges in the state are the Kingston Bridge, which crosses the Millstone River between Somerset and Mercer counties, and the Stony Brook Bridge, in Princeton Township, Mercer County. Its roadway supported by three arches, the Stony Brook Bridge was built in 1792 according to its date stone. The four-arched Kingston Bridge was built, according to its date stone, in 1798. The unusual expense in building these bridges is noted in the 1799 Somerset County freeholder minutes; both bridges were located within the original bounds of Somerset County (Kudless and Kudless 1977:148). Other early extant New Jersey road bridges with date stones include the 1822 double- arched Opossum Road Bridge in Montgomery Township, Somerset County; the 1825 single- arched Cat Tail Brook Bridge in Hillsborough Township, Somerset County; and the 1860 triple- arched Miller Farmstead Old Turnpike Road Bridge in Mansfield and Lebanon Townships, Warren and Hunterdon Counties (McCabe 1976; Bertland 1987). Bonnie's Bridge, a single- arched structure in Cherry Hill Township, Camden County, is thought to have been built in the late 18th or early 19th century (Greenberg 1984). The Hope Bridge in Hope Township, Warren County, a single-arched structure, is thought to have been built early in the 19th century (Bertland 1976:154). And the Warrington Bridge in Knowlton Township, Warren County, which has an exceptional six arches, is thought to have been built during the second quarter of the 19th century (Bertland 1976:166; Karschner 1976). Documentary evidence indicates that stone arch bridges were built in the state prior to the 1798 Kingston Bridge. For example, the freeholders

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