A photograph of the bridge dated 1934.
Sandra Detterline, P.E., the Bridge Engineer hired by the township to advise us on the bridge project, did some research at the County Engineering office where she worked earlier in her career and has uncovered what are apparently the original plans for the Landenberg Bridge. An interesting note on the linen drawing gives the specification for the original paint color scheme: "all iron work to have two coats of good mineral paint. Railings to be finished in white all other work to be red". (some paint research will be needed to determine exactly what shade "white" and "red" would have been back then).
Her discoveries definitely prove that the bridge was originally a county bridge (Chester County Bridge number 53). This was strongly suspected, but this is the first documentation of it. The bridge was authorized by Chester County Commissioners R. T. Garrett, D. E. Chambers, and Townsend Moulder around 1899.
Once Sandra knew the county bridge number, she went through her personal photo collection and found negatives of three photos of the bridge taken by County Engineer Harry K. Ellis back in the 1930's (she had purchased these at the Engineer's estate sale a few years back). These photos are much higher quality than others we have been using, and show some excellent detail that we would otherwise have had to guess at.
Sandra found a set of plans for a "welding repair" project done in 1932. Apparently at this time the cross-bars of the trusses were welded together to keep them from rattling as vehicles crossed the bridge. Similar "repairs" were also done to several other County Truss bridges at that time. Engineers looking back at this today consider that welding inappropriate, since the truss no longer functioned as a pin-connected truss after that. PennDOT, if fact, cited these welds as one of the reasons the bridge was "not repairable" when other problems were found sixty years later.
Sandra also found the records of a stringer replacement project done back in the 1934. The original set apparently lasted only 35 years, but the second set was "good" for sixty-five years. It was the serious deterioration of this set of stringers that led to the closing of the bridge a few years ago.
A photograph of the bridge dated 1934.
A photograph dated 1934 showing the newly replaced stringers.
Detail photo of the new strngers in1934.