Originally published in the Cecil Whig
While researching the article on the Cecil County jail a few weeks ago, I also ran across a large number of entries in the county commissioners’ minute books about the construction of bridges across the county. Many of the larger bridges were made of wrought iron which was particularly popular in the second half of the 19th century. Among the structures was a bridge and a causeway in the area of Elk Landing and 2 structures in North East, plus one over the Big Elk Creek in Elkton.
The Big Elk Creek bridge was bid on November 15, 1870 by American Iron Bridge Company of Chester, Pennsylvania (represented by L.W. Finley) to build a “bridge over the Big Elk Creek in the town of Elkton… to be built mostly of wrought Iron arch lattice…and painted”… to span “106 feet, and 16 feet wide”… “with concrete flooring 3 inches thick.” It was to be completed by December 10th, 1871 at a total cost of $3300.
The County Commissioners wanted 2 bridges over the North East Creek in 1870. The winning bid came from another Chester, PA company, American and Sons which proposed building one structure spanning 65 feet the other a 45 foot span. Both “to be built in the mesh wrought iron arch lattice girder plan,” with white oak planks. The iron would receive “two coats of oil paint of such color as is preferred by the Commissioners.” Total cost: $3282.
The bridge near Elk Landing was to be built over the Little Elk Creek. It was to be a “pile bridge” and not of wrought iron. This span was proposed by David Palmer of Cecil County who pledged to build a structure “176 feet long, 16 feet wide, and seven feet above low water.” The bid cost was $2008. The other proposal by James Lambert was “to raise a causeway over the marsh at Elk Landing… a 20 foot roadway…the work to be done in a workman like manner….” The cost was 27 cents per cubic yard of dirt.
In addition to these bridges and causeways, there was some masonry work bid for the number 3 Principio Bridge over the public road to Port Deposit. The winning bid was submitted by Morris Keilholtz of Cecil County to do the work for $3.90 per perch. Now, in case you were wondering, I know I was, a “perch”is, according to the Oxford Dictionary, “a measure of area, especially for land, equal to 160th of an acre or 30 1/4 square yards.” It’s also “a measure of length, especially for land, equal to a quarter of a chain or 5 1/2 yards.” Not sure which applies here.
Finally, while I didn’t find a record of the County Commissioners bidding it, there was one piece of evidence of a bridge built over the Sassafras River in 1870. According to a document from the Historical Society’s vertical files, the bridge “was of wooden construction with a hand operated draw braced with steel rods.” According to the document, this bridge was replaced in 1903. A note in the County Commissioner’s minutes for February 9th, 1870, indicates this structure may not have been the first of its kind. The minutes report that the “keeper of the bridge over the Sassafrass River for 1870 and 1871” was paid “an annual salary of $100.” Unless the bridge was built in January of 1870, it was there previously.
There are pictures of only one of the above bridges in the Historical Society online files, that of the Big Elk Creek bridge in Elkton. However, there are pictures of many others, both named and unnamed in those files.
For more information on this and other historic topics, please contact the Historical Society of Cecil County via our web site at www.cecilhistory.org