HA-799 Carter Farm Bridge (Crowl Farm Bridge)
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HA-799 Carter Farm Bridge (Crowl Farm Bridge) Architectural Survey File This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse- chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation such as photographs and maps. Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment. All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust. Last Updated: 09-12-2018 MARYLAND IDSTORICAL TRUST NR Eligible: yes DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY FORM no ~ Property Name: Carter Farm Bridge Inventory Number: HA-799 Address: 3301 Rocks Road (_MD 24) 101 Cherry Hill Road Historic district: yes X no City: Street Zip Code: 21154 County: Harford USGS Quadrangle(s): Jarrettsville Property Owner: Garden Fence Farm LLC Tax Account TD Number: 05-008743 Tax Map Parcel Number(s): 0117 Tax Map Number: 0025 Project: MD 24 Rocks Road Section G Agency: MDOT SHA Agency Prepared By: MDOTSHA Preparer's Name: Consultant Architectural Historian Rebecca Crew Date Prepared: 11 / 14/2017 Documentation is presented in: Survey and Compliance Files Preparer's Eligibility Recommendation: Eligibility recommended X Eligibility not recommended Criteria: A B C D Considerations: A B C D E F G Complete if the property is a contributing or non-contributing resource to a NR district/property: Name of the District/Property: Inventory Number: Eligible: yes Listed: yes Site visit by MHT Staff yes X no Name: Date: Description of Property and Justification: (Please attach map and photo) The Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration (MDOT SHA) maintains that Carter Farm Bridge, HA- 799, the privately-owned bridge over Deer Creek leading to the Garden Fence Farm owned by the Crowl family is not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2013, MDOT SHA recommended the bridge not eligible for listing, due to it having been moved from its original location and subsequent loss of feeling and association as its use changed from public to private, along with its deteriorated condition. The Maryland Historical Trust did not concur with this determination, commenting that the Carter Farm Bridge was eligible under Criterion C as a well-preserved and representative example of its type. The bridge has continued to deteriorate and this Determination of Eligibility presents additional information regarding the bridge type. The Carter Farm Bridge has not been in use for several years; the bridge carries a driveway leading to the John T. Carter House, HA-783, on the Garden Fence Farm, LLC property owned by the Crowl family. Members of the Crowl family live in the John T. Carter House and now access the house from Cherry Hill Road, using another driveway that is almost a mile long. The wood deck planks have deteriorated and have moss growing on them. Overall, the bridge has rusted to an extent that compromises its physical integrity. Two bridge deck stringers have failed: one is in the water below the bridge, and a second is MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST REVIEW Eligibility recommended Eligibility not recommended ~ Criteria: A B C D Considerations: A B C D E F G 1\:)p f_ MHTComments:.)o,,,+~~ ~ ~ J~ ~ rre,,v-t~ c5J«v~IM,tQ ✓ 11 /:J..'i. /.7 Date 1~r3}17 Program Date c..,,o~35~ NR-ELIGIBILITY REVIEW FORM HA-799 Carter Fann Bridge Page 2 lodged between the bridge deck and the ground, acting like a brace. The west stone abutment has major cracking on the south wingwall. Slender pipes also extend from the deck towards the water. The grid-pattern metal railings do not appear to be part of the original design, and they have no finished end posts. The plate on the northeast inclined end post is broken; only the top portion remains, bearing the names "George Archer, Albert L. McCann, J.T. Anderson, Comm(r)". History and Context As noted in previous documentation, the Carter Fann Bridge was originally a public bridge, carrying Rocks Road over Deer Creek, at the location where the Rocks Steel Truss Bridge (MDOT SHA Bridge No. 121016, HA-1576) now stands. Previous bridges, including a wooden covered bridge, had been in that location since the nineteenth century. The early twentieth century saw a proliferation of bridge building companies and local governments looking to improve their roadways as part of the Good Roads Movement. The Harford County Commissioners awarded a contract for $ 1300 to the York Bridge Company for a new bridge across Deer Creek at Rocks in October 1907. The bridge was to be ready for service by December 2 I , 1907. The Maryland State Roads Commission was established in April 1908. Following a flood in 1933, the Maryland State Roads Commission decided to replace the one-lane Warren pony truss with the Rocks Steel Truss Bridge, a two-lane, Pratt through truss bridge, built on a skew. John T. Carter purchased the Warren pony truss and installed down stream at a fording place on Deer Creek near his home. According to the Historic Highway Bridges in Maryland: 1631-1960: Historic Context Report, the York Bridge Company of York, Pennsylvania, formed circa 1900, and was a successful marketer of metal truss bridges to Maryland state and county officials during the first two decades of the twentieth century building both Pratt through trusses and Pratt pony spans. Numerous extant bridges by the York Bridge Company remain extant in Maryland: -Apples Church Road over Owens Creek, 1917 (by York Bridge Co.), Frederick County, Warren pony truss (F-6-116, determined eligible 4/3/2001 , rehabilitated 1997) -Blacks Mill Road over Hunting Creek, 1914, Frederick County, Pratt pony truss (F-6-1, determined eligible 4/3/2001 , rehabilitated 1995) -Bullfrog Road Bridge over Monocacy River, 1908, Frederick County, Parker through truss (F-6-8, listed on the NRHP 11 /21 / 1978, rehabilitated 1995) -Church Hill Road over Middle Creek, 1908, Frederick County, Warren pony truss (F-4-4, determined not eligible 4/3/2001 , rehabilitated 1994) -Dixon Road Bridge over Bennett Creek, 1904 (by York Bridge Co.), Frederick County, Warren pony truss (F-7-13, determined eligible 4/3/200 I, rehabilitated 1995) -Grimes Road Bridge over Toms Creek, 1914, Frederick County, Pratt through truss (F-6-106, determined eligible 4/3/200 I, rehabilitated 1994) MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST REVIEW Eligibility recommended Eligibility not recommended Criteria: A B C D Considerations: A B C D E F G MHT Comments: Reviewer, Office of Preservation Services Date Reviewer, National Register Program Date NR-ELIGIBILITY REVTEW FORM HA-799 Carter Farm Bridge Page 3 -McK.instry Mill Bridge over Sam's Creek, built 1908 (by York Bridge Co.), Frederick and Carroll Counties, Warren pony truss (CARR-156/F-8-111 , determined eligible for 4/3/200 I, also contributes to the McK.instry Mill Historic District, rehabilitated 1997) -Mumma Ford over Monocacy River, 1911, Frederick and Carroll Counties, Pratt through truss (CARR-l/F-6-10, not evaluated for NRHP, rehabilitated 2011) -Reichs Ford Bridge over Bush Creek, 1911 (by York Bridge Co.), Frederick County, Warren pony truss (F-5-7, detennined not eligible November 13, 2003, rehabilitated 1999) -Sixes Bridge over Monocacy River, 1910, Frederick and Carroll Counties, Pratt through truss (F-6-11, detennined eligible 4/3/200 I , rehabilitated 1995) -Stevens Bridge over Hunting Creek, 1890, Frederick County, Pratt through truss (F-G-121 , detennined eligible April 3, 200 I , rehabilitated 1990). In 1905, James Webster replaced George W. Drury as president of the York Bridge Company. Archival research indicates the company also won contracts to build bridges in Baltimore County, Loudoun County (Virginia), and other extant bridges by the company are found in Pennsylvania and Ohio (1). The Carter Farm Bridge is an example ofa Warren pony truss, the same type as the Apples Church Road, Church Hill Road, Dixon Road, McK.instry Mill, and Reichs Ford Bridges by the same company. Those bridges vary slightly in length and design details. The Warren truss, patented in 1846 by British engineers James Warren and Willoughby Monzoni, was a commonly built metal truss bridge type in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The original form consisted of a series of equilateral triangles, and many variants exist. The Carter Farm Bridge does not have equilateral triangles, and it has vertical members subdividing the inverted triangles. The Historic Highway Bridges in Maryland: 1631-1960: Historic Context Report lists the Carter Farm Bridge as an example of the Warren Truss, along with the 1910 Reel's Mill Road Bridge over Bush Creek in Frederick County (F-5-8), which appears to have been replaced. The context states these bridges were both built by the prolific York Bridge Company. Bridgehunter.com records 2,951 Warren pony truss bridges on its website inventorying bridges primarily in the United States. Other Warren pony trusses in Maryland, besides the others built by the York Bridge Company, include: -Crow Rock Road Bridge over Middle Creek, 1897 (by Groton Bridge and Manufacturing Co., NY), Frederick County (F-4-5, detennined eligible 4/3/200 I, rehabilitated 1997) -Montevideo Road Bridge over Dry Seneca Creek, 1910 (by unknown designer), Montgomery County (M: 18-48, detennined eligible 4/3/2001, rehabilitated I 989) -Priestford Pony Truss Bridge, MD 136 (Priestford Road) over Deer Creek, ca.