details

Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

Home

Portland Street or Summerville, Caledonia County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: VT/45-03-32x
County: Caledonia County
Township: St. Johnsbury
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Portland Street or Summerville
Crosses: Passumpsic River
Truss type: Paddleford & Arch
Spans: 1+
Length:
Roadway Width:
Built:
Builder:
When Lost: 1905
Cause: Replaced
Latitude: N44 25.18
Longitude: W072 00.81
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: On US2 in the east end of the city.

Portland Street Bridge, St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, VT Built 1909 Replaced 1927
St. Johnsbury, Vt. 1884. Beck & Pauli, litho., Library of Congress Panoramic Maps Collection

Portland Street Bridge, St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, VT Built 1909 Replaced 1927
Richard Sanders Allen Collection, NSPCB Archives

Portland Street Bridge, St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, VT Built 1909 Replaced 1927
Todd Clark Collection

Portland Street or Summerville Bridge, St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, VT Replaced 1905
Todd Clark Collection

Portland Street Bridge, St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, VT Built 1909 Replaced 1927
Bill Caswell Collection

Comments:
15-panel truss. The bridge had already been replaced by a steel structure by the time the nearby Maine Central Railroad bridge was being reconstructed about 1905. Per the St. Johnsbury Republican, September 24, 1891, "The Portland street bridge has been patched up again to keep it from falling into the river. When shall we have that iron viaduct and bridge?" Per the St. Johnsbury Republican, May 19, 1892, "Master Bridge-builder Bissell of the Boston and Maine was in town Tuesday and incidentally looked over the ground of the proposed bridge and viaduct on Portland street." Per the St. Johnsbury Republican, September 9, 1896, "The Portland street road was built by the job by Nelson Powers in 1855, having been ordered by a court's committee, and the bridge the next spring." It is not stated whether the bridge was a covered bridge at the time. Per The St. Johnsbury Caledonian, April 19, 1905, "The selectmen engaged a civil engineer to prepare plans for a new steel bridge across the Passumpsic river at Portland street and expect to have the structure all completed before winter sets in." Per the St. Johnsbury Republican, September 27, 1905, "Bridge Nearlng Completion. The iron for the new Summerville bridge is all in position, and the finishing touches are being put on rapidly. The bridge will be open for traffic in a short time now and the public will be glad of it, for that important road has been marked "no thoroughfare" for a long time. The bridge is a good one, however, and it will be a long time before it will be necessary for it to be held up for repairs again."

Sources:
St. Johnsbury Republican, September 27, 1905.
The St. Johnsbury Caledonian, April 19, 1905.
St. Johnsbury Republican, September 9, 1896.
St. Johnsbury Republican, May 19, 1892.
St. Johnsbury Republican, September 24, 1891.
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Vermont Covered Bridges, 2004, page 125

The images in this collection may be protected under copyright law and may only be used for educational, teaching, and research purposes.
If the intended use is beyond these purposes, it is the responsibility of the user to obtain the appropriate permissions from the owner stated in the image's credits.