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Powder Works or Paradise Park or Masonic Park, Santa Cruz County

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Inventory Number: CA/05-44-03
County: Santa Cruz County
Township: Santa Cruz
Town/Village: Paradise Park
Bridge Name: Powder Works or Paradise Park or Masonic Park
Crosses: San Lorenzo River
Truss type: Smith Triple
Spans: 1+
Length: 180'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1872
Builder: California Powder Works
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N37 00.633
Longitude: W122 02.634
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: In Paradise Park Masonic Club. 1.2 miles north of jct. CA1 (Cabrillo Hwy) on CA9 (River St.), then 1.0 miles north-northwest on Keystone Way (a private road) and just right 50' on Keystone Way.

Paradise Park Bridge, Paradise Park, Santa Cruz County, CA Built 1872
Richard Donovan Collection

Paradise Park Bridge, Paradise Park, Santa Cruz County, CA Built 1872
September 13, 1984 Photo, Palmer Werner Collection

Comments:
Permission required, ask at office. 14-panel truss. The five-foot overhanging curved portals are unique among existing California covered bridges. The bridge was built in 1872 after floodwaters washed out an earlier bridge at the site. In 1864, California Powder Works started as the first black powder mill on the west coast. The mill operation moved away in 1914 and the site was abandoned for 10 years. Since 1924, the covered bridge has been part of a private residential community, owned by the Paradise Park Masonic Club. The bridge is still used for vehicular and pedestrian traffic today. On April 15, 2015, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell designated a bridge as a National Historic Landmark.

Sources:
Morley, Griswold. The Covered Bridges of California, 1938, pages 58-59 & 91
Reported by KSBW-TV on April 15, 2015
http://www.santacruzpl.org/history/articles/520/
The Timeshare Beat. 'Covered Bridges of California Counties', http://www.thetimesharebeat.com/yourworld/calbridges.htm
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 4

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