Wilson Bridge - Hagerstown, Maryland
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 39.474 W 077° 50.882
18S E 255665 N 4393665
Historic stone arch bridge on the National Road near Hagerstown, Maryland.
Waymark Code: WMKFNW
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 04/08/2014
Views: 6
Text of marker:
Wilson Bridge
Standing the Test of Time
This graceful, five-arch structure, spanning historic Conocochegue Creek, is the oldest stone bridge in Washing County. The Army Corps of Engineers only required stone piers with a wooden superstructure, but the local government insisted the bridge be constructed entirely of native limestone. Competed in 1819, at a cost of $12,000, it was the first of thirty stone bridges constructed in Washington County prior to the end of the Civil War. This 210-foot bridge, with two-foot thick walls above the roadbed, carried National Road traffic for nearly 120 years until the realignment of U.S. Route 40 in 1937.
Tropical Storm Agnes produced one of the worst floods in the Great Valley of Maryland. Raging waters completely submerged the bridge leaving gaping holes in the stone superstructure. Demolition was recommended but county residents raised an outcry. A coalition of local historical societies, county government and the Maryland Historical Trust united to obtain funding to restore the bridge.