Kaitlin at Preservation in Pink recently put up a very helpful post giving good internet resources for researching historic bridges. Most of us know about HABS/HAER, but I hadn’t heard of the website called Historic Bridges of the U.S. This site has hundreds of Mississippi bridges on it, complete with construction dates, map locations, types of construction, and in many cases, a picture. Seriously, check out this page about the Lamb-Fish Bridge in Tallahatchie County–with updated condition assessment from 2007 and comments about people’s memories of it even! 

The website also offers a convincing argument for the preservation of historic bridges rather than their replacement–something I know I’ve struggled with since the high-profile collapses of bridges in the last few years.

I love bridges now, although as a kid I was very scared of going over them because of some bridge collapse somewhere in Tampa (and I think it was a non-historic bridges–sometimes they collapse too). My very first National Register nomination ever was for a bridge here in Mississippi. I admit I didn’t have a clue about bridges, didn’t know what a pony-through-truss was or even what a “through-truss” was. But I didn’t want to tell anyone that I didn’t know because I was just out of school and didn’t want to get fired before I even half-started my job, so I muddled through and I think it made some sort of sense when I was done. Regardless, the bridge is listed on the National Register today, so my nomination must have been credible. Either that or no one in authority actually read it. Which now that I think about it . . .

Categories: Architectural Research, Bridges, Historic Preservation