AUGUSTA HILL ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. NJ-85 (Bridge D-7) Spanning the east branch of the Paulins Kill at Augusta Hill Road Augusta Sussex County

PHOTOGRAPHS

WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY National Park Service Northeast Region U.S. Custom House 200 Chestnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD

AUGUSTA HILL ROAD BRIDGE HAER No. NJ-85 (Bridge D-7)

Location: Carrying Augusta Hill Road over the east branch of Paulins Kill approximately one hundred feet southwest of the intersection of Augusta Hill Road, Plains Road, and United States Route 206, Augusta, Frankford Township, Sussex County, New Jersey.

UTM: 18.522630.4552770 Quad: Branchville, New Jersey

Date of Construction: circa 1886

Present Owner: Sussex County Administration Building Plotts Road Newton, New Jersey 07860

Present Use: Vehicular bridge.

Significance: The Augusta Hill Bridge is significant as one of the few remaining bridges designed by the I. P. Bartley Bridge Company of Bartley, New Jersey. The Augusta Hill Road Bridge is a typical example of a late­ nineteenth century steel Pratt, pin-connected, half-hip pony truss bridge. The Augusta Hill Road Bridge has been determined eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Project Information: This documentation was undertaken in January 1993 in accordance with a Memorandum of Agreement between the Federal Highway Administration and the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Officer as a mitigative measure prior to bridge replacement.

Glenn A. Ceponis Historic Preservation Group Kise, Franks, and Straw Philadelphia, PA Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 2)

The Augusta Hill Road Bridge is located in Augusta, Frankford Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. Augusta is approximately two miles south of Branchville and six miles north of Newton, the county seat. Augusta Hill Road provides a transportation link between County Route 519 and United States Route 206. The bridge carries Augusta Hill Road over the east branch of the Paulins Kill River. The bridge is located approximately one hundred feet southwest of U.S. Route 206 and approximately two hundred feet northeast of an abandoned railroad right-of-way. The immediate area surrounding the bridge is rural in- character comprised of scattered houses and farmland. Most notable is the Gustin/Bray House, a historic inn (currently a private residence) dating to the eighteenth century, located directly in line with Augusta Hill Road on the northeast side of U.S. 206.1 Frankford Township lies within the west central portion of Sussex County. It encompasses varying topography, including a portion of the Blue Mountain Range along its northwest border. Despite its relatively rough and uneven terrain, the township has remained fertile and highly productive agriculturally. Much of the agricultural economy centered on the production of dairy products, including butter and milk; however, fruits and grains were also prevalent crops.2 Much of Augusta's early success can be traced to its proximity to well-traveled roads. The earliest known roadway within Frankford Township connected Balesville in Hampton Township to Deckertown (Sussex) in Wantage Township. Augusta Hill Road comprised a portion of this roadway through Augusta.3 It is unclear whether Augusta Hill Road forded or bridged the Paulins Kill in Augusta, however, the road's relative importance may suggest the existence of an early bridge at the site. The Morris Turnpike (currently U.S. Route 206) was the earliest turnpike in the area. Completed in 1807, it extended from Long Bridge in Frankford north to Rainsville in Sandyston Township. The turnpike took advantage of a natural cut through the Blue Mountains at Culver's Gap in Frankford Township. The route continued on into at Milford. The Dover turnpike combined with the Morris Turnpike less than a mile east of Augusta at Ross's Corner.4 The location of these turnpikes and roadways proved advantageous to Augusta's settlement and development.

By the beginning of the nineteenth century Augusta was noted as the center of Frankford Township's commercial interests.5 The area's first resident, Hugh Hagerty, settled in the area around 1750. Following Hagerty's death, John Gustin, another early resident of Augusta, purchased Hagerty's land. In 1795 Gustin constructed an inn and tavern on the property. The building still stands (1993) at the north corner of the juncture of Augusta Hill Road, Plains Road, and U.S. 206. Gustin had extensive land holdings in the area. He also managed a successful fulling-mill, store, ashery, and established Augusta's first post office. John Bray purchased

1Kate Gordon, Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council, The 1991 Historic House Tour of Sussex County (Newton, NJ: Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council, 1991), np. 2John Barber and Henry Howe, Historical Collections of the State ofNew Jersey (New York: S. Tuttle, 1844), 464; James P. Snell, History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey (Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1881), 390. 3snell, Sussex and Warren Counties, 392-93; Culver Brook Restoration Foundation, Historical Architectural Survey of Frankford Township and the Borough ofBranchville, Sussex County, New Jersey. Survey on file at the Office of New Jersey Heritage, Trenton, New Jersey, 9. 4snell, Sussex and Warren Counties, 393 and insert map. Ssnell, Sussex and Warren Counties, 390; Culver Brook Restoration Foundation,Architectural Survey of Frankford Township, 12. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 3)

Gustin's inn in 1824. The inn and tavern functioned as one of the station stops for the Newark and Owego stage. Prior to his purchase of the tavern, Bray worked as a drover and his inn later became a rendezvous for drovers passing through the area. The building remained in use as an inn into the twentieth century when it was converted to a residence.6

Development in Augusta occurred principally along the Morris Turnpike, though growth also took place along Plains and Augusta Hill Roads.7 By the 1840s Augusta, which remained largely an agricultural community, contained a Presbyterian church, and fifteen to twenty dwellings. By this date Branchville, located approximately two miles north of Augusta, had begun to eclipse Augusta as the township's residential, commercial, and industrial nucleus. First settled in the late seventeenth century, Branchville had superior opportunities for the development of water-powered industries, with approximately 300 feet of developable fall within a two-mile stretch. Branchville experienced considerable development beginning in the 1830s, and by the 1840s supported a population of approximately 200 inhabitants.8 Industries in Branchville during the 1840s included grist and saw mills, cloth-dying and dressing establishments, a weaver, cooper, blacksmith, and cabinet maker, as well as a carriage manufactory.9 Establishment of a railway into Branchville insured the village's continued dominance of the township's economy.

Schemes for the construction of a railroad across Sussex County began as early as 1836; however, this and other early railroad ventures did not materialize. A charter for the Sussex Mine Railroad was granted in 1848 for Cooper and Hewett's Andover iron mining operations. The railroad connected Cooper & Hewett's various mining operations to the at Waterloo. In 1852 Newton residents in neighboring Hampton Township petitioned the railroad, renamed the Sussex Railroad in 1853, to extend its line north to their community, and in 1854 the Sussex Railroad reached Newton. In 1866 William Bell, of Branchville, began securing right-of-way for the northern extension of the Sussex Railroad from Drake's Pond through Lafayette into Branchville. On July 3, 1869 the extension to Branchville became operational.IO Completion of the railway had dramatic effects on Branchville. Over sixty new buildings were constructed in the town during the next year. Despite the railroad's passage through Augusta, and the erection of a train station there, local development was now firmly centered in Branchville.

Augusta declined rapidly and by 1881 few vestiges remained of the once thriving community.11 Augusta's decline continued into the twentieth century. By 1901 Augusta's population numbered only seventy-five. Augusta's only industrial plant consisted of a cream separating business producing paper sizing from waste curds and converting whey into milk-sugar.12 The plant stood southwest of the Augusta Hill Road Bridge across Augusta Hill Road from the railway station. By the early twentieth century two railroads served the area; the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western (Branchville Extension) and the Lehigh and New England Railroad (Swartswood Junction). By

6Gordon, Historic House Tour, np; Snell, Sussex and Warren Counties, 399. 7G. M. Hopkins, Jr., Map of Sussex County, New Jersey (Philadelphia: Carlos Allen), 1860. 8Barber and Howe, Historical Collections, 465. 9Ibid. lOA.Van Doren Honeyman, Northwestern New Jersey: A History of Somerset, Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922), 578-79. llsnell, Sussex and Warren Counties, 399. 12New Jersey Buteau of Statistics, The Industrial Directory ofNew Jersey (Trenton: Bureau of Statistics, 1901), 25-26. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 4)

1927 Augusta's population had further declined to approximately fifty-six, while Branchville had grown to approximately 590.13

Farmers and transportation companies began demanding improved roadways within Frankford Township during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. By 1881 Frankford Township created forty-seven road districts and allocated $1,800 for road improvements.14 Augusta Hill Road played an important roll in the area's transportation network as both an access route to the Morris Turnpike and as a through route to Deckertown. Bridging the Paulins Kill along Augusta Hill Road may have been a direct response to the demand for better area roadways.

The Augusta Hill Road Bridge is a four panel, steel, half-hip, Pratt pony truss highway bridge. A Pratt truss is distinguished by its top chord and vertical members acting in compression while its bottom chord and diagonal members act in tension. These compressive and tensile members can generally be differentiated by their composition; with compressive members fabricated of heavier channel steel, plates, and lattice, and tensile members comprised of thin eyebars. Pratt trusses generally use pin connections rather than riveted connections. Pin connections are more conducive to eyebar use and allowed for simpler erection of the structure. Half-hip Pratt trusses are differentiated from Pratt trusses through the placement of the end verticals. A Pratt truss places its first vertical member directly at the connection of the top chord and the end post, while a half-hip Pratt truss's first vertical member is located away from its end posts. The resultant truss is less strong than typical Pratt through or pony trusses, For this reason half-hip trusses are used mostly for short spans and light vehicular traffic.15

Thomas and Caleb Pratt of Boston patented their truss form in 1844. Thomas Pratt, Caleb Pratt's son, was America's most thoroughly trained bridge builder during the mid-nineteenth century. Pratt studied architecture, building construction, mathematics, and natural sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He then worked approximately three years with the United States Army Engineers. In 1833 Pratt began a distinguished career as bridge builder and general engineer for various New England railroad companies. Pratt's truss design proved superior to the existing Howe truss, predominantly through its functional distribution of tensile and compressive forces. The Pratt truss achieved enormous popularity due primarily to its strength and straightforward design. The Pratt truss proved adaptable to a wide variety of situations. Its ingenuous design and simple structural members did not require complex fabrication details and permitted speedy erection. Pratt truss bridges remained one of the most prevalent bridge types in the United States from 1850 well into the twentieth century due to their versatility, durability, and economic desirability.16

13The Industrial Survey ofNew Jersey (Trenton: Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1912), 293-94. 14Culver Brook Restoration Foundation, 9; Snell, 393. 15Historic Highway Bridges in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, PA: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 1986), 111-14; P.A. C. Spiro and Company, Delaware Historic Bridges Survey and Evaluation (Dover: Delaware Department of Transportation, Historical and Engineering Series No. 89, 1991), 42-44; F. C. Kunz, Design ofSteel Bridges: Theory and Practice (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1915), 171. 16Donald C. Jackson, Great American Bridges and Dams (Washington: Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1988), 24-30; Carl W. Condit,American Building Art: The Nineteenth Century (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960), 109-11. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 5)

The I. P. Bartley Company of Bartley, New Jersey designed the Augusta Hill Road Bridge circa 1886.17 Township bridge commissioners at that time included Theodore H. Roe, John V. Calvin, and J. C. Warner.18 It is unclear if this bridge replaced an existing obsolete bridge or whether it bridged an earlier ford in the river. The bridge designer's parent company, William Bartley & Sons, began during the 1840s and continued operations into the twentieth century. William Bartley established an iron foundry as early as 1845 under the name Bartley and King. The foundry was originally located in Bartleyville and later moved to Pottersville. By 1861 William Bartley had returned to Bartleyville (later Bartley) to begin his own business.19 Bartley is located in the iron-rich section of Morris County near the southern border of Mount Olive Township. William Bartley took advantage of local water power, constructing his plant along the south branch of the Raritan River.20 The Bartley Company's early iron foundry and machine shop manufactured mill castings, machinery, and plows, meeting the conventional needs of both the regional farming and mining communities.21 By 1882 the Bartley Foundry & Machine Shop manufactured grist and saw-mill gearing, turbine waterwheels, iron penstocks, steam engines, portable grist and saw mills, corn crackers, bark mills, and tire breakers. The firm employed approximately fifteen men. At this time the town consisted of six houses, a school, a post office, and the Bartley foundry.22

At least two of William Bartley's sons, Augustus Hugh and Ireaneus P. Bartley, were active in their father's business. Augustus Hugh Bartley joined the firm after graduating from Magie Institute in Chester, New Jersey and later became president of the company.23 Ireaneus P. Bartley worked for the firm as a draughtsman and engineer. A subsidiary company, I. P. Bartley Bridge Company, reflects Irenaeus P. Bartley's importance within his father's firm. I. P. Bartley was born December 1861. He received a degree in civil engineering from Lafayette College in 1884, and following graduation held a position with an "important bridge concern" in St. Josephs, Missouri. He returned to Bartleyville circa 1886 and joined his father's company. I. P. Bartley died of "heart disease" in 1888 at the age of 28.24 Most of the known bridges constructed by the I. P. Bartley Bridge Company were constructed during the brief period ofl. P. Bartley's association with his father's company, suggesting his integral role in the Bartley Company's bridge building

17Harold Pellow and Associates, Alternative Analysis Report Augusta Hill Road Bridge/Bridge D-7 Over the Paulins Kill, Frankford Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. On file at the Sussex County Engineering Office, Newton, New Jersey,6. 18Bridge plaques, Augusta Hill Road Bridge. The plaques are currently missing from the bridge, however, photographs of the plaques are on file with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Bureau of Environmental Analysis, Trenton, New Jersey. 19Biographical and Genealogical History ofMorris County, New Jersey (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1899), 481-82; Adelaide Beecher, Mount Olive Historical Journal, Centennial (n.p.: Mount Olive township, 1971), np. 20F. W. Beers, Atlas of Morris County, New Jersey (New York: F. W. Beers, A. D. Ellis and G. G. Soule, 1868). 21w. W. Munsell, History of Morris County, New Jersey (New York: W.W. Munsell and Company, 1882), 254-55. 22Ibid., 255. 23ttoneyman, Northwestern New Jersey, 44-45; "Bartley Family." Microfiche held by the Joint Free Library of Morristown and Morris Township, Morristown, New Jersey. 24"0bituary." The Iron Era, 8 December 1888.; Biographical and Genealogical History, 482-83. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 6) efforts.25 Most of the Bartley Company's bridges were constructed within a limited radius of the company's Mount Olive Township headquarters, extending from Morris County into Sussex and Hunterdon Counties.

The Augusta Hill Road Bridge is typical of steel, Pratt, pin-connected, half-hip pony truss bridges in both composition and form. It is composed of a single span with an overall length of approximately forty-seven feet and a width of thirteen feet. The bridge's clear roadway width is approximately eleven feet. There are no sidewalks associated with the bridge. The bridge has a ninety-degree skew to its east and west connecting abutments. The bridge superstructure consists of two parallel, four panel, Pratt half-hip pony trusses. Each truss' top chord and inclined end posts is comprised of two steel channels, top plates, and intermittent lacing bars placed along the bottoms of the channel members. These built-up members are riveted. The bottom chord consists of one inch and three quarter inch square sway bars. Vertical truss members are composed of riveted steel angles and lattice bars, while diagonal stay bar members are composed of one inch and three quarter inch round bars. Primary truss members are pin connected. Truss bearings consist of vertical plates. The overall height of the truss is six feet six inches and the truss panel length is eleven feet nine inches. Two two-inch diameter longitudinal pipes extend across each truss inside elevation and act as guard rails. The bridge's two trusses are tied together by three lateral floor beams and lateral bracing. The floor beams are riveted and hung from the truss's vertical members. Each built-up floor beam is comprised of quarter inch steel plate with angle sections acting as flanges around their perimeters. The center of each floor beam is deeper (sixteen inches) then its ends (twelve inches). The top of each beam is horizontal while their bottoms incline from each center out to their ends. Five longitudinal steel stringers lie on the top flanges of the floor beams. The stringers are rolled steel I-sections measuring ten inches deep with five-and-one quarter-inch flanges. Wood decking, laid on the stringer's top flanges, is comprised of laminated three-by-five-inch pine boards set on edge. Wheel guards are six inch square timbers. Asphalt paving sits directly on the wood decking. Drainage holes are placed regularly through the decking. The bridge's substructure consists of concrete abutments,constructed circa 1943, with wing walls. The trusses rest in notched bearing seats within the abutments.

In 1943 the Augusta Hill Road Bridge underwent replacement of its stringers and wood decking. By this date the bridge's original masonry abutments had been encased in concrete. In 1963 and 1965 the bridge deck was repaired. Installation of beam guard rails along the bridge's approaches took place in 1975, and in 1990, in conjunction with the reconstruction of Augusta Hill Road into a two-lane paved roadway, new metal guard rails were installed on the bridge's approaches. The single-lane Augusta Hill Road Bridge is presently in a state of disrepair and can no longer safely handle modem traffic quantities and loads. The bridge superstructure suffers from severe rusting of structural members as well as significant loss of section of some members. Over the years the

25Historical descriptions from the third quarter of the nineteenth century into the twentieth century for Bartley industries, including William Bartley & Sons, never specifically mention bridge construction as part of the firm's activities. The I. P. Bartley Company was never specified within these descriptiqns. William Bartley & Sons continually stressed their associations with the fabrication of mill parts and machinery. During the twentieth century the William Bartley & Sons Company focused on boiler production. Most I. P. Bartley Company bridges appear to have been constructed during I. P. Bartley's tenure with his father's company; a reported 1892 Bartley bridge located on State Route 24 in Ralston, Mendham Township (now demolished) remains an anomaly. It is unclear whether it represented an I. P. Bartley design used subsequent to his death or was designed by another party. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 7) bridge's posted weight limit had been downgraded from ten tons to five tons and is currently posted at three tons. Due to its limited width oncoming traffic must alternate use of the structure.26

26sussex County Bridge Files, Augusta Hill Road Bridge - Bridge D-7, Sussex County Engineering Department, Newton, New Jersey; Pellow, Alternative Analysis Report, l-3. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 8)

BIBLIOGRAPHY A History of Morris County, New Jersey Embracing Upwards of Two Centuries, 1710-1913. Vol. I. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1914.

Acroterian. Morris County Historic Sites Survey. "Bartleyville Historic District." On file at the Office of New Jersey Heritage, Trenton, NJ.

Barber, John and Henry Howe. Historical Collections of the State ofNew Jersey. New York: S. Tuttle, 1844. "Bartley Family." Microfiche held by the Joint Free Library of Morristown and Morris Township, Morristown, NJ.

Beecher, Adelaide. Mount Olive Historical Journal, Centennial. n.p.: Mount Olive Township, 1971.

Beers, F. W. Atlas of Morris County, New Jersey. New York: F. W. Beers, A. D. Ellis, and G. G. Soule, 1868.

Biographical and Genealogical History of Morris County, New Jersey, Vol. II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1899.

Boyd's Morris County Directory for 1883-1884. Paterson, NJ: W. Andrew Boyd, 1884.

Comp, Allan T. and Donald Jackson. "Bridge Truss Types: a guide to dating and identifying." American Association for State and Local History Technical Leaflet 95, History News Vol. 32, No. 5, May, 1977.

Condit, Carl W. American Building Art: The Nineteenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.

Culver Brook Restoration Foundation. Historical Architectural Survey of Frankford Township and the Borough ofBranchville, Sussex County, New Jersey. Survey on file at the Office of New Jersey Heritage, Trenton, NJ.

Gordon, Kate. Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council, The 1991 Historic House Tour of Sussex County. Newton, NJ: Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council, 1991.

Historic Highway Bridges In Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, PA: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Historical and Museum Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, 1986.

Honeyman, A. Van Doren. Northwestern New Jersey: A History of Somerset, Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties. Vol. I. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922.

Hopkins, G. M., Jr. Map of Sussex County, New Jersey. Philadelphia: Carlos Allen, 1860. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 9)

The Industrial Survey ofNew Jersey. Trenton, NJ: Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, 1912.

Obituary. The Iron Era. 8 December 1888. Microfilm copy on file at the Joint Free Library of Morristown and Morris Township, Morristown, NJ.

Karschner, Terry. National Register Historic District Nomination Form, "Califon Historic District," 1974. On file at the Office of New Jersey Heritage, Trenton, NJ.

Kunz, F. C. Design of Steel Bridges: Theory and Practice. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1915.

Jackson, Donald C. Great American Bridges and Dams. Washington, D.C.: Preservation Press, National Trust For Historic Preservation, 1988.

Lefferts and Peifer. Historic Engineering and Industrial Survey of Warren and Sussex Counties, 1978. On file at the Office of New Jersey Heritage, Trenton, NJ.

Munsell, W. W. History of Morris County, New Jersey. New York: W. W. Munsell and Company, 1882.

New Jersey Bureau of Statistics. The Industrial Directory of New Jersey. Trenton: Bureau of Statistics, 1901.

New Jersey Bureau of Statistics and Records, Department of Labor. The Industrial Directory of New Jersey. Hoboken: Robert R. Stinson, 1927.

P. A. C. Spiro and Company. Delaware Historic Bridges Survey and Evaluation. Dover: Delaware Department of Transportation, Historic Architecture and Engineering Series No. 89, 1991.

Pellow, Harold and Associates. Alternative Analysis Report Augusta Hill Road/Bridge D-7 Over the Paulins Kill, Frankford Township, Sussex County, New Jersey. On file at Sussex County Engineering Office, Newton, NJ.

Robinson's Atlas of Morris County, New Jersey. New York: R. Robinson, 1887.

Snell, James P. comp. History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1881.

Sussex County Bridge D-7. Various files held by Sussex County Engineering Department, Newton, NJ.

This is Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey: A Brief Historical Record 1730- 1976. The Washington Township Historical, Society, 1976. Augusta Hill Road Bridge (Bridge D-7) HAER No. NJ-85 (Page 10)

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US Route 206

Augusta Hill Road Bridge

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SITE PLAN (not to scale)