{"nrhp_refnum":"70000551","name":"Skippack Bridge","other_names":["Bridge #142,Montgomery County"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"E of Evansburg on PA 422","address_restricted":false,"city":"Evansburg","county":"Montgomery County","state":"PA","lat":40.180457997000076,"lon":-75.42176888699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-12-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eight-arch stone bridge carrying Germantown Pike across Skippack Creek in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, with Evansburg as its locality. It is a 267-foot-long structure, thirty-three feet wide, built in 1792.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the bridge is an outstandingly handsome example of eighteenth-century engineering and masonry, and the most ambitious architectural and engineering project among sites in the proposed flood area. It is said to predate the Perkiomen Bridge at Collegeville by seven years and to be among the ten oldest spans in the United States.","narrative":"Built in 1792 across Skippack Creek on Germantown Pike in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, this bridge is a 267-foot structure of eight arches, thirty-three feet wide. Its faced cut stone was quarried locally, and the walls on either side of the roadway rise four and a half feet above the deck. The original date stone names Mathew Potts, John Mann and Conrad Boyer, and a second stone from the 1874 repair names John Steeven, one of the commissioners. The site was chosen in 1792 by a six-man jury after no better crossing could be found to serve both the Manatawny Road and the Norristown Road. Funding came in part from a 1762 lottery. The bridge is valued for its engineering and masonry: it is regarded as an outstandingly handsome example of eighteenth-century work and is said to be among the ten oldest spans in the United States, predating the Perkiomen Bridge by seven years. It has carried traffic continuously since completion.","period_of_significance":"1792","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The bridge has carried traffic since its completion in 1792; it was repaired in 1874 without changing its original proportions or design.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:29.953589-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/70000551.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000551/a9a837bbd6-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000551/a9a837bbd6-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Joseph Elliott, Photographer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skippack_Stone_Arch_Bridge,_Spanning_Skippack_Creek_at_Germantown_Pike,_Skippack_(Montgomery_County,_Pennsylvania).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Joseph Elliott, Photographer</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Skippack_Stone_Arch_Bridge,_Spanning_Skippack_Creek_at_Germantown_Pike,_Skippack_(Montgomery_County,_Pennsylvania).jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001139","name":"Evansburg Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/evansburg-historic-district-72001139/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71995561","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippack_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7535777"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/montgomery-county/skippack-bridge-70000551/"}