Carrollton Viaduct

Infobox_Bridge
bridge_name=Carrollton Viaduct


caption=Carrollton Viaduct in 1971
official_name=
carries=Two tracks of CSX Transportation
crosses=Gwynn's Falls
locale=Baltimore, Maryland
maint=CSX Transportation
id=
design=Arch bridge
mainspan=80 feet (24 m)
length=312 feet (95 m)
width=
clearance=
below=51 feet, 9 inches (15.8 m)
traffic=
open=1829
coordinates=coord|39|16|32|N|76|39|18|W|type:landmark
lat=
long=

Infobox_nrhp | name =Carrollton Viaduct
nrhp_type =nhl


caption =
location= Baltimore, Maryland
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 16
lat_seconds = 30.96
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 76
long_minutes = 39
long_seconds = 19.04
long_direction = W
locmapin = Maryland
area =
built =1828
architect= James Lloyd; Caspar Weaver
architecture=
designated= November 11, 1971cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1177&ResourceType=Structure
title=Carrollton Viaduct |accessdate=2007-10-08|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = November 11, 1971cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = Private
refnum=71001032

The Carrollton Viaduct, located over Gwynn's Falls near Carroll Park in Baltimore, Maryland, is the first stone masonry bridge built for railroad use in the United States.

The bridge is currently the world's oldest railroad bridge still in use, carrying loads far greater than originally envisioned. [cite web| url=http://www.ce.jhu.edu/mdcive/carrollton.htm| title=Carrollton Viaduct| author=Johns Hopkins University, Department of Civil Engineering| accessdate=April 5| accessyear=2006| ] It was named after Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, who laid the cornerstone on July 4, 1828. [cite web| url=http://cprr.org/Museum/Railroad_Builders/Railroad_Builders_05.html| title=The Railroad Builders| author=John Moody (1919)| accessdate=April 6| accessyear=2006| (The HAER report states that the cornerstone was laid in May 1828.)] As he laid the first stone he said: "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence." Builder Caspar Weaver and designer James Lloyd completed the structure for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in November 1829, at the cost of $58,106.73.

The bridge, 312 feet (95 m) in length, rises from its foundations about 65 feet (20 m). It is 51 feet, 9 inches (15.8 m) above Gwynn's Falls. It consists of a full-centered arch with a clear span length of 80 feet (24 m) over the stream, and a space for two railroad tracks on its deck. To provide an underpass for a wagon road, an arched passageway, 16 feet (5 m) in width, was built through one of the masonry-walled approaches. Originally planned as one arch of 40 feet (12 m) chord, the dimensions were enlarged to quiet the concern of the proprietor of the mills located immediately above the bridge site, who feared that 40 feet would be insufficient if the stream was flooded. The heavy granite blocks which form the arches and exterior walls were procured from Ellicott's Mills and Port Deposit. A temporary wooden framework supporting the central span held 1,500 tons (1,360 tonnes) of this stone during construction. A white cornerstone at one end of the bridge bears the inscription "James Lloyd of Maryland, Builder A.D. 1829."

Andrew Jackson, the first President of the United States to ride on a railroad train, crossed the bridge on a trip between Ellicott's Mills and Baltimore on June 6, 1833. The Carrollton Viaduct has provided continual service to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and its modern corporate successor, CSX Transportation.

The viaduct was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971 and was automatically listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same day.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/71001032.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Carrollton Viaduct] |282 KiB |date=August 5, 1971 |author=W. Brown Morton III |publisher=National Park Service. PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/71001032.pdf Accompanying 2 photos, from 1971.] |320 KiB ]

In 1982 it was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

References and footnotes

*cite book | author=Cook, Richard J. | title=The Beauty of Railroad Bridges in North America -- Then and Now| publisher=Golden West Books, California (USA) | year=1987 | id=ISBN 0-87095-097-5

* Historic American Engineering Record survey No. HAER MD,4-BALT, 129- "Significance" section.

External links

* [http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1177&ResourceType=Structure National Historic Landmark information]
* [http://www.nr.nps.gov/Red%20Books/71001032.red.pdf National Register information]
* [http://www.nr.nps.gov/writeups/71001032.nl.pdf NPS write-up]
* [http://www.asce.org/history/brdg_carrolton.swf American Society of Civil Engineers - Carrollton Viaduct]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(MD0908)) Library of Congress HABS/HAER - Carrollton Viaduct]
* [http://www.marylandhistoricaltrust.net/nr/NRDetail.aspx?HDID=78&FROM=NRNHLList.aspx Carrollton Viaduct, Baltimore City] , including photo, at Maryland Historical Trust