Laughery Creek Bridge
The Laughery Creek Bridge is a triple Whipple truss bridge on the border of Dearborn County, Indiana, and Ohio County, Indiana. It crosses Laughery Creek. This bridge was built in 1878. The Wrought Iron Bridge Company, a prolific late 19th-century bridge company, constructed the bridge. The bridge is seated on stone abutments. The deck surface is not original and is currently concrete. The bridge, nearly 300 feet (91 m) in length, is a single-span, pin-connected, triple-intersection Whipple through truss, and is the only example in the world of this truss type. The name bridge's nickname, "Triple Whipple Bridge" is a play on words. The double-intersection Pratt, which was called the Whipple truss configuration, was a far more common variation of the standard Pratt configuration. Since the Laughery Creek Bridge's members have three intersections instead of two, this gives rise to the "Triple Whipple" name. This bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.[2]
Laughery Creek Bridge | |
|---|---|
 Laughery Creek Bridge, 1974 | |
| Coordinates | 39°01′29″N 84°53′09″W |
| Crosses | Laughery Creek |
| Locale | Dearborn County, Indiana and Ohio County, Indiana |
| Other name(s) | Triple Whipple Bridge |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Triple-intersection Pratt truss |
| Total length | 298.8 feet (91.1 m) |
| Width | 17 feet (5.2 m) |
| Longest span | 297.5 feet (90.7 m) |
| Clearance above | 21.4 feet (6.5 m) |
| History | |
| Opened | 1878 |
Laughery Creek Bridge | |
   | |
| Location | South of Aurora west of State Road 56, Center Township, Dearborn County, Indiana |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1868 |
| Built by | Wrought Iron Bridge Company; Green, William & Co. |
| Architectural style | Triple-intersection Pratt |
| NRHP reference No. | 76000018[1] |
| Added to NRHP | September 29, 1976 |
| Location | |
After closing in the 1970s, the bridge fell into serious disrepair, landing it on Indiana's 10 Most Endangered places list in 1993. A combination of federal funds and matching funds from Dearborn and Ohio Counties allowed the bridge to be refurbished and converted to pedestrian use in 2009.
References
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved 2015-08-01. Note: This includes Sackheirn, Donald E.; Gratiot, Alex P.; DeLony, Eric N. (March 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Laughery Creek Bridge" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-09-01. and accompanying photographs.
External links
- "Celebrating the Triple Whipple" by the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, October 30, 2009.
- "Triple Whipple Bridge" by Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. IN-16, "Laughery Creek Bridge, Spanning Laughery Creek, Aurora vicinity, Dearborn County, IN", 15 photos, 6 measured drawings, 13 data pages, 1 photo caption page
