Union Bridge Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Union Bridge Company was a bridge fabricator and contractor with works in Buffalo, New York, (believed closed in 1890 per HAER references) and Athens, Pennsylvania. Sources such as the RPI archives, below, suggest that Charles Macdonald may have been president at one time. Sources such as the Hawkesbury archives suggest it may have been headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. Other sources suggest Buffalo, New York.

Some sources (such as the Saugatuck reference) indicate that the Union Bridge Company may have been absorbed into the American Bridge Company in the 1900 consolidation.

A company with the same name, chartered in 1873, was involved in a US Supreme Court case in 1907 involving compliance with a law giving the Secretary of War the authority to order removal of obstructions to navigation on rivers and waterways. It is not yet clear if this is the same company or not.

[edit] Notable projects

Niagara Cantilever Bridge (1883)
Poughkeepsie Bridge (1889)
Coraopolis Bridge (1927)
Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge (Hawkesbury River, New South Wales, Australia)
Pasco-Kennewick Bridge (1922)
Provo River Railroad Bridge (1884) (small through truss bridge, notable for having been disassembled, reused as a shorter bridge, then disassembled and reused as a still shorter bridge)
Winona Railroad Bridge (1891)
Saugatuck River Bridge (1884) Connecticut swing bridge. Hand cranked. Claimed oldest extant movable bridge in Connecticut.

[edit] External links

entry at Structurae.de (empty of company info but source for some of the notable projects on the list)
[http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/hudson-river-bridge/ article} at nycroads.com about proposed Hudson River crossings, including one from the Union Bridge Company
archive from RPI illustration of Poughkeepsie Bridge with notation "Poughkeepsie Bridge - Built by the Union Bridge Company - Charles Macdonald '57 President - Robert Escobar '57 Engineer"
archive from RPI illustration of Hawkesbury River Bridge (Australia) with notation "Hawkesbury River Bridge - Designed and constructed by the Union Bridge Company - Charles Macdonald '57 of the Union Bridge Company - Robert Escobar '57, Engineer, of the Union Bridge Company"
NRHP application archive giving ref to Poughkeepsie Bridge and Niagara Cantilever Bridge both being built by UBC
Hawkesbury River history giving reference to bridge and company
Supreme Court case of 1907, Union Bridge Company vs. United States from findlaw.com (may or may not be the same company)
Saugatuck swing bridge, reference claims that UBC was absorbed by ABC in 1900.