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Exeter Road Bridge (NHDOT Bridge 162/142)

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Exeter Road Bridge (NHDOT Bridge 162/142) Exeter Road Bridge (NHDOT Bridge 162/142) New Hampshire Historic Property Documentation An historical study of the railroad overpass on Exeter Road near the center of Hampton. Preservation Company 5 Hobbs Road Kensington, N.H. 2004 NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORIC PROPERTY DOCUMENTATION EXETER ROAD BRIDGE (NHDOT Bridge 162/142) NH STATE NO. 608 Location: Eastern Railroad/Boston and Maine Eastern Division at Exeter Road in Hampton, New Hampshire (Milepost 46.59), Rockingham County Date of Construction: Abutments 1900; bridge reconstructed ca. 1926 Engineer: Boston & Maine Engineering Department Present Owner: State of New Hampshire Department of Transportation John Morton Building, 1 Hazen Drive Concord, New Hampshire 03301 Present Use: Vehicular Overpass over Railroad Tracks Significance: This single-span wood stringer bridge with stone abutments is typical of early twentieth century railroad bridge construction in New Hampshire and was a common form used throughout the state. The crossing has been at the same site since the railroad first came through the area in 1840 and was the site of dense commercial development. The overpass and stone abutments date to 1900 when the previous at-grade crossing was eliminated. The construction of the bridge required the wholesale shifting of Hampton Village's commercial center to its current location along Route 1/Lafayette Road. Project Information: This narrative was prepared beginning in 2004, to accompany a series of black-and-white photographs taken by Charley Freiberg in August 2004 to record the Exeter Road Bridge. The bridge is located on, and a contributing element to, the Eastern Railroad Historic District, which was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A, and C as a linear transportation district on May 3, 2002. This recordation was undertaken in partial mitigation for alterations to the bridge, which took place in early 2005. This documentation was prepared by Preservation Company, 5 Hobbs Road, Kensington, NH, for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, Concord, NH. EXETER ROAD BRIDGE (NH BRIDGE 162/142) NH STATE NO. 608 (Page 2) PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION Historical Background: The Eastern Railroad and the Original Crossing at Exeter Road The area around the current site of the Exeter Road Bridge was, prior to the 1840 construction of the railroad, part of the developed part of Hampton. The area grew early on as a direct result of its location at the intersection of two historically significant routes: the north/south running Route 1/Lafayette Road, and east/west running Exeter Road. These routes were the location of stagecoach routes in the eighteenth century. At the time that the railroad was put in, the intersection was already the location of houses and commercial buildings. Nearby along Exeter Road, at that time referred to as Main Street, there was Loving Dunbar's Inn, and the homes of Joshua Lane, Jonathon Philbrick and Amos Towle. The latter family name gave rise to the name of the area, Towle's Crossing. Although it was already developed when the railroad came to this part of town, the crossing at Towle's landing and the station solidified this as the commercial center of the town. I The Eastern Railroad was one of New Hampshire's earliest railroads and when constructed, the longest line in the state. With the Eastern Stage Company as its corporate forerunner, the Eastern Railroad line was chartered in Massachusetts on April 14, 1836 (Mausolf 2002:7) The Eastern Railroad Company of New Hampshire was incorporated two months later, authorized to build a track connecting the Eastern Railroad line of Massachusetts to the Portsmouth, Saco, and Portsmouth Railroad in southern Maine (Wallace 1999:12). The route chosen went through Seabrook, Hampton Falls, Hampton, Greenland, Rye and Portsmouth. The Eastern's chief engineer was Colonel James M. Fessenden (Kennedy 1957:97). In Hampton, the train went through the marshes, "to old Hampton village, running near the stage road." The grading for the line was contracted to Sewall F. Belknap of Beverly, MA and Samuel Turner of Dedham, MA (Mausolf 2002:7). Belknap was also the general contractor for the construction of the Vermont Central Railroad. The line over the marshland on either side of the Hampton had to be filled using wheelbarrows and horse carts until a temporary track could be put in (Dow 1892:330). Ground was broken for the Massachusetts portion of the Eastern line on July 22, 1836. 2 The road opened to Salem, MA on August 27, 1838 and Newburyport, MA in June 1840. The New Hampshire portion of the railroad was completed as far as Islington Street in Portsmouth from the Massachusetts border in early November 1840. Roughly, two months later, the line was completed into its terminus at the depot on Vaughan Street in Portsmouth. For two years, until The 1806 Leavitt Plan confirms the dense settlement in the area at that time without question predating development at the landing at the river (Randall 1989:621) 2 The Eastern Railroad was the fifth railroad incorporated in New Hampshire and the second to be constructed in the state. The first railroad in New Hampshire, the 5.25-mile Nashua & Lowell, was incorporated in June 1835 and completed in 1838. EXETER ROAD BRIDGE (NH BRIDGE 162/142) NH STATE NO. 608 (Page 3) the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth opened, some Eastern trains connected with steamers going to Kennebec River and Portland. In order to cross the Piscataqua River at Portsmouth, the Eastern Railroad and the Portland Saco & Portsmouth (the Maine connecting line) purchased a majority interest in the stock of the Proprietors of the Portsmouth Bridge Company. The Portsmouth- Kittery Bridge, which originally dated to 1822, was altered to accommodate the new rail service. This bridge, which was used until the late 1930s, was located at what is now the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge on the Route 1 Bypass in Portsmouth. From the start, the Eastern Railroad of New Hampshire was largely a subsidiary of its Massachusetts progenitor, the Massachusetts Eastern Railroad. It leased the New Hampshire Eastern Railroad for ninety-nine years beginning in mid-1839 (Mausolf 2002:7). The Eastern and the roughly contemporary Boston & Maine (originally Andover & Wilmington) were intense competitors almost from the start. In 1843, the Boston & Maine constructed a new north-south line located closer to the ocean, which connected to the Portland, Saco and Portsmouth Railroad. Despite the B & M incursion into its territory, the Eastern remained in sound financial condition through the Civil War when it made the trip from Portsmouth to Boston six times a day. By the 1850s, however, a number of questionable economic decisions, including the purchase of a number of smaller feeder routes, an accident and general economic conditions, resulted in the Eastern falling in debt and losing passengers to the Boston & Maine. By 1870, 80 percent of railroad traffic was using B & M Railroad tracks as opposed to the Eastern Railroad tracks (Lindsell 2000:101). In 1871, the Eastern declared bankruptcy and in November 1874, a non- competition agreement was reached between the Eastern and the B & M. A decade later, the B & M Railroad leased the Eastern Railroad for fifty-four years and in 1898 the legislatures of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire voted to permit the Boston & Maine to purchase the Eastern (Boston & Maine 1900:4). Thereafter, the Eastern line ceased to exist and became, instead, the Eastern Branch of the B & M Railroad (Mausolf 2002:8-9). The Eastern was only one of many competitor railroads that were taken over by the Boston & Maine during this era. Through this type of growth, by 1900 the B & M at 2,285 miles was the largest line in northern New England. The Eastern Branch of the Boston & Maine and the. Exeter Road Bridge One of the first items of business on the new Eastern Division was to install a second track. According to a B & M publication, "the construction of a second track upon that portion of the main line of the Eastern Division between Salisbury, Mass., and Greenland, NH, had long been imperatively needed for the economical and expeditious operation of the train service" (Boston & Maine 1900:4). In addition to the twelve miles of second track, the directors also immediately authorized the separation of all thirteen of the public highway crossings on the new stretch at an estimated cost of $400,000 (Boston & Maine 1900:4). The second track required that the roadbed be widened 12'. In addition, much of the old track had to be raised to a new level, stations and freight houses had to be moved, freight yards and side tracks had to be rearranged and bridges, underpasses and culverts need to be widened or rebuilt. The B& M's Engineering EXETER ROAD BRIDGE (NH BRIDGE 162/142) NH STATE NO. 608 (Page 4) Department prepared plans and specs for the new masonry, bridges, and grading in the summer of 1899 and contracted the work beginning in September 1899 (Boston & Maine 1900:4). 3 In January 1900, the firm of Ellis & Buswell received the contract to eliminate four grade crossings, including the Exeter Road crossing (Boston & Maine 1900:4). Ellis & Buswell, who were also working under an earlier contract on the project (abutments for new bridges at two crossings and abutments for five new bridges) were headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. The firm operated a granite quarry (the Ross Quarry) in Kennebunkport, Maine (Perrrazzo 2007). It is likely that this stone was used for Ellis & Buswell's B & M work including Exeter Road Bridge. The intersection of Exeter and Lafayette Roads in Hampton had been cause for particular concern, as it was the juncture of railroad tracks and streetcar tracks, as well as pedestrian and carriage traffic.
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