Lombard Street Bridge - Baltimore MD - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Also known as Bollman Truss; Bollman Water-main Truss;
Bollman Water Pipe Truss.

National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form

The Lombard Street Bridge, which formerly carried Lombard Street over the Jones Falls stream in Baltimore City, is located over Gwynns Falls between Dickey Mill to the west and Wetheredsville Road on the east.

The Lombard Street Bridge is an 88 foot cast-iron span designed in 1877 by the engineer Wendel Bollman (1814-1884). The bridge consists of three lines of trusses, two outer trusses of composite cast and wrought iron of diagonal Pratt-type. The center composite bowstring truss has a Pratt-system web. Both chords are cast-iron water mains, bifurcated at each end bearing at which point there is a cast-iron post and wrought-iron tie. The Lombard Street Bridge was moved because it could no longer handle the heavy volume of traffic on Lombard Street, one of the principal east-west streets in Baltimore.

Moving the bridge was the only way to save the structure from total demolition. Because of the unique character of this particular bridge, the City of Baltimore, the State of Maryland, the owners of the Dickey Mill, the Smithsonian Institution, the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, and the Dickeyville citizens have joined forces to secure its future. The new site of the Lombard Street Bridge consists or a 19th century industrial complex constructed on a level, open space bounded on the west by a steep grade, on the east by the Gwynns Falls, and beyond the stream by Wetheredsville Road.

The Mill is not visible to the residential section of Dickeyville, therefore the bridge is not visible to the residents of Dickeyville. The Mill area has since the 18th century, been industrial. Since hurricane Agnes no access has existed to the Mill. Without access to the Mill any proposed adaptive use of the structure cannot be economically viable.

The Mill is the key factor in the historic justification for the existence of Dickeyville. The erection of the Lombard Street Bridge over Gwynns Falls at the Dickey Mill solves two preservation problems by providing a viable adaptive use for two important historic properties. Adaptive use is essential to the viability of preservation as a whole. Robert Vogel, Chairman, Department of Science and Technology, The National Museum of History and Technology, The Smithsonian Institution, agreed to be a consultant on the reerection.

Street address: Over Gwynns Falls Dickeyville Mill to the west and Wetheredsville Road to the east Baltimore, MD United States 21207 County / Borough / Parish: Baltimore (Independent City) Year listed: 1972 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1875-1899 Historic function: Industry/Processing/Extraction,Transportation Current function: Transportation Privately owned?: no Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Season start / Season finish: Not listed Hours of operation: Not listed Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/10/2021 Don.Morfe visited it 05/16/2021 Searcher28 visited it

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