Waddell "A" Truss Bridge - Parkville, Missouri - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

"The Waddell "A" Truss Bridge is currently located in English Landing Park, Parkville, Platte County, Missouri. Originally built as a railroad bridge across Linn Branch Creek, in the vicinity of Trimble, Clinton County, Missouri, it now crosses Rush Creek carrying a pedestrian path between a day-use recreational area and two isolated ball fields. It is a triangular shaped, steel, through-truss, bridge approximately 100 feet long and 40 feet high. It rests on two concrete abutments and is composed of pin-connected riveted units. In 1980, the bridge was disassembled and stored for seven years by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, while awaiting a suitable location and a responsible owner. Despite its relocation, the Waddell "A" Truss Bridge retains its integrity of design as drawn by its creator, John Alexander Low Waddell; materials, with the exception of the abutments and a small percentage of the original rivets; workmanship, the bridge was reassembled using the same high standards as originally specified by the designer; feeling, as the bridge's current setting is similar to that of its original setting; and association with late 19th century railroad bridge engineering and the work of John Waddell.

Constructed in 1898 as the Linn Branch Creek Bridge for the Quincy, Omaha and Kansas City Railway, the bridge represents the work of a master, John Alexander Low Waddell, who enjoyed an international reputation as a teacher of engineering and a practicing professional engineer. Waddell's "A" truss was developed to meet the need for a reliable, easily erected, inexpensive, short-span railroad bridge and is regarded as a transitional phase in bridge design. The two, high main trusses, which were connected by top bracing and gave the bridge its characteristic "A" shape, answered the stress and vibration problems inherent in the more widely used pony truss form- Although rapid technological advances quickly made the "A" truss obsolete, Waddell's design was extensively used as a railroad bridge in both Japan, where he developed the type, and in the United States, where he perfected and patented his design. Despite a 1987 relocation, the Waddell "A" Truss Bridge at Parkville remains significant for its engineering design value; its essential physical characteristics are intact, and it is one of only two examples of the bridge type known to exist in the United States. Its period of significance is confined to the year of construction--l898--, while its level of significance is statewide, since it is the only bridge of its type identified in the state; the other surviving example of the type remains on its original location on the Kansas City Southern Railway at Shreveport, Louisiana." - National Register Nomination form

Street address: English Landing Park Parkville, Missouri County / Borough / Parish: Platte Year listed: 1991 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1875-1899 Historic function: 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   04/24/2011 wardnkathy visited it