{"nrhp_refnum":"78002471","name":"Bollman, W., and Company Bridge","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"1.5 mi. (2.4 km) N of Myersdale on U.S. 219","address_restricted":false,"city":"Meyersdale","county":"Somerset County","state":"PA","lat":39.82997191700008,"lon":-79.04255001099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-span iron Warren truss bridge over Wills Creek in Summit Township, near Meyersdale, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was originally built as a railroad bridge on the Pittsburgh Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.","why_significant":"The bridge is the only one still known to survive of seven built by W. Bollman and Company for the Pittsburgh Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio. It is a rare surviving example of the firm's iron bridge work, which followed the career of Wendel Bollman, an engineer credited with developing a working iron bridging system for American railroads. The bridge is also linked to the transition from railroad to automobile use around 1910.","narrative":"A 93-foot single-span Warren truss bridge crossing Wills Creek in Summit Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was built as a railroad bridge on the Pittsburgh Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the firm W. Bollman and Company is credited as its builder. The structure uses cast iron for some compression members and the ornate end pieces and lacework, while wrought iron forms the tension members, end posts and Phoenix columns. Wendel Bollman, a self-taught engineer from Baltimore who had worked for the Baltimore and Ohio from 1828, developed the iron bridging systems that the firm built. Of the seven bridges the company built for the Pittsburgh Branch, this is the only one still known to survive. Around 1910 the bridge was moved to its present site and converted for automobile traffic, a change that reflects the limits of the Warren truss under heavy loads.","period_of_significance":"1871","architect_builder":"W. Bollman & Company","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Moved to its present location around 1910 and converted to automobile traffic; described as in good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.788654-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/78002471.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002471/3152e79718-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002471/3152e79718-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wells-creek-bollman-bridge.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wells-creek-bollman-bridge.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996518","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wills_Creek_Bollman_Bridge","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q8022471"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/somerset-county/bollman-w-and-company-bridge-78002471/"}