'H.. ' L;, • I, f -' " ~I I'~- NORTH BRIDGE HISTORIC STRUCTURE REPORT Developmental History North Bridge Unit Minute Man National Historical Park 1888 Commemorative Bridge, postcard view ca, 1900 By Judith Q_ Sullivan Architectural Conservator, National Park Service Northeast Regional Office Historic Architecture Program February, 2004 CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND CREDITS ........................................................................................ iv. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ xi I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 ADMINSTRATIVE DATA ............................................................................................... 2 Basic Data ................................................................................................................ 2 Cultural Resource Data ............................................... , .... , .............................. , ........ 2 Proposed Use and Treatment .................................................................................. .3 Related Studies ........................................................................................................ .4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................... 5 Project Background and Scope ................................................................................ 5 Historical Context .................................................................................................... 6 Summary of Research Findings ............................................................................... 6 Short Chronology of Bridge Development .............................................................. 6 II. DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY ................................................................................... 10 EARLY BRIDGES. 1650-1760 ....................................................................................... 11 Images/Maps etc................................................................................................... 28 THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR BRIDGE. 1760-1787 ............................................... 34 ImageslMaps etc .................................................................................................. .47 THE 1788 BRIDGE ......................................................................................................... 51 ImageslMaps etc................................................................................................... 61 QUIET TIMES AT THE BRIDGE. 1793-1874 ............................................................. 63 ImageslMaps etc ................................................................................................... 67 THE COMMEMORATIVE CENTENNIAL BRIDGE. 1874-1887 ............................ 74 The Architect ........................................................................................................ 76 The Bridge ............................................................................................................ 79 Images ................................................................................................................... 87 THE 1888 COMMEMORATIVE BRIDGE. 1888-1908 ........................................... .100 Images ................................................................................................................. 104 THE 1909 COMMEMORATIVE BRIDGE. 1909-1955 ........................................... .112 The Engineer .. .................................................................................................... 112 ii The Bridge ......................... '" .......... , ..... ,..... '" ..................................................... 113 Images ................................................................................................................. 116 THE 1956 COMMEMORATIVE BRIDGE, 1956-Present ....................................... 122 The Engineers ... .......................................... ,. '" .... '" ..................... '" .................... 123 The Bridge ., ..... '" ......... ,.................. ,.............................. , .................................... 124 Images ................................................................................................................. 134 III. CHARACTER DEFINING FEATURES AND RECOMMENDA TlONS ............... 164 IV. RECOMMENDED TREATMENT .............................................................................. 169 V. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 173 VI. APPENDICES ................................................................................................................ 178 APPENDIXA. Bridges at the North Bridge Site, 1656-1793, Concord Town Records ., ........ '" ............................................ , ........ '" ........ '" ........ 179 APPENDlXB. 1748 - Petition of William Hunt and Others for a Bridge at John Flints ............................................................................................ 195 APPENDlXC. 1876 - Proceedings at the Centennial Celebration of Concord Fight, April19, 1875 (selected excerpts) ...................................... 198 APPENDlXD. William Ralph Emerson, Architect. Biographical information and representative examples of his work ............................................ 222 APPENDIXE. J. R. Worcester, Bridge Engineer, Biographical Information ...... 239 APPENDIXF. Whitman and Howard, Engineers. Biographical Pamphlet offirm.......................................................................................... 243 APPENDIXG. Report of Damages to Concrete Bridge by Engineers, Whitman and Howard, Spring 1956 ............................................................ 261 APPENDlXH. North Bridge Construction Specifications, Whitman and Howard, Engineers, March 1956 ................................................................ 268 APPENDIX I. North Bridge, Construction Drawings, Whitman and Howard, Engineers, March 1956 ................................................................ 278 APPENDIXJ. North Bridge, Condition Assessment, Childs Engineering Corporation, August 2002 ............................................................ 284 iii LIST OF FIGURES AND CREDITS I. Map of "North Part of Concord, or District of Carlisle," surveyed by Benjamin Brown, 1754. (Map reprinted in Archeological Collections Management, Minute Man NHP Volume 4, ACMP Series, 1986, ............................................................................................. 28 2. Map of the North Bridge unit of Minute Man NHP showing overlay of original configuration of roads including old Groton Road and the Causeway. (Map number District VI, Historic Grounds Report, Minute Man NHP, CRM Study no. 15, byJoyce Malcolm, 1985.) ..................................................................................................................... 29 3. View of the Concord River and North Bridge site looking southeast from the Buttrick Estate. Photo by Jack Boucher, HABS, May 1962. Collections of Minute Man NHP Archives ................................................................................................................................ .30 4. View from the 1956 North Bridge looking northwest towards the Buttrick Estate. Photo by Jack Boucher, HABS, May 1962. Collections of Minute Man NHP Archives .............. .31 5. Old North Bridge during flood season. Photo by Jack Boucher, HABS, March 1968. Collections of Minute Man NHP Archives ........................................................................... .32 6. Spring flood waters of the Concord River in the vicinity of the North Bridge. Photo by Jack Boucher, HABS, March 1968. Collections of Minute Man NHP Archives ................. 33 7. "The Engagement at the North Bridge in Concord." Engraving by Amos Doolittle and Ralph Earle, April 1775. Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT.47 8. "The Engagement at the North Bridge in Concord." Engraving by Amos Doolittle and Ralph Earle, April 1775. Detail of North Bridge. Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT .......................................................................................... ..48 9. Modem bridge diagram identifYing bridge elements. Downloaded from website ............. ..49 10. The Causeway at the North Bridge. Archeological evidence of the 18 th century cobbled roadbed. Photo by Leland Abel, NPS, August 1964. Collections of Minute Man NHP Archives, #MIMA 75-251 ..................................................................................................... 50 II. Tracing of "Map of roads in vicinity of the Great North Bridge, probably drawn in 1792." Recorded by Leland Abel, NPS, Archeological Collection Management Report, Minute ManNHP, Volume 4, 1987,p.119........................................................................................ 61 12. Tracing of map of Groton Road in the vicinity of the North bridge, probably drawn in 1792 with proposed changes to roads and bridge locations added. Map traced and amended by Leland Abel, NPS, Archeological Collection Management Report, Minute ManNHP, Volume 4, 1987,p.118 ........................................................................................ 62 IV 13.