Water, Wall, and Pine Streets Lenticular Truss Bridges

Three iron bridges carry Water, Wall and Pine Streets across the Tioughnioga River in Homer, New York, forming a small district that also takes in parts of the approach streets and the river between them. In 1881 the village trustees, wanting a safer and more convenient way across the river, ordered the bridges from a Connecticut firm, the Corrugated Metal Co. of East Berlin, and paid $2,800 for all three. Each uses a lenticular truss, with a bowed upper chord and a lens-shaped lower chord of wrought iron bars. The Wall Street span measures 58 feet and the Pine Street span 71 feet. The Water Street bridge, at 97 feet, uses two trusses that meet on a stone wall. Finial-capped posts decorate the structures. They are valued as examples of inventive iron bridge design and as links in an old trade route. They remain in use, although maintenance has been neglected and the Water Street bridge faces possible demolition.