The Putnam Bridge was a

swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravity, about which the swing span (turning span) can then pi ...

that spanned the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyt ...

and the adjacent tracks of the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The bridge connected

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or tr ...

, near the current location of

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

, in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. It carried two tracks of the New York and Putnam Railroad, and later the 9th Avenue elevated line of the

Interborough Rapid Transit Company The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) was the private operator of New York City's original underground subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT ...

(IRT), as well as two pedestrian walkways outside the superstructure. The bridge opened to rail and pedestrian traffic on May 1, 1881, and operated until all rail service was discontinued on August 31, 1958. The bridge's extreme narrowness of between the centers of the trusses, combined with the proximity of the Macombs Dam Bridge, made it impractical and unnecessary to convert to a roadway bridge, and it was removed in 1960.

Design

As with the other

swing bridges, the bridge was designed by Chief Engineer Alfred Pancoast Boller; the contractors were Clarke, Reeves & Co., and Smith, Ripley & Co. The bridge's total length was , comprising a main span of (the largest double-track draw span in the world at the time of construction), two identical

deck truss A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

side spans of each, and four approach spans on either side. When closed, the bridge provided of vertical clearance, and when opened, two shipping channels of and in the east and west channels respectively.

Construction

The Putnam Bridge was built by the New York City & Northern Railroad, a predecessor of the NY&P, and operated by its subsidiary, the West Side & Yonkers Railway (not to be confused with the West Side & Yonkers Patent Railway, the original operator of the 9th Avenue line). The location for the bridge was formally approved by the Board of Parks Commissioners on January 7, 1880. Construction was authorized by the Board of Rapid Transit Commissioners on February 18, 1880, was underway by April of that year, and completed April 28, 1881; train service began running on the following Sunday, May 1. Construction was disrupted by an accident on November 26, 1880, when a

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...

that was being moved into position flipped over unexpectedly, knocked a second truss loose, and caused both to fall through the scaffolding, killing one laborer and injuring four others, but otherwise proceeded without notable incident.

Service

The NY&P and its successor, the

's Putnam Division, continued to run trains over the bridge until January 6, 1918, at which time service was cut back to a new terminal at

Sedgwick Avenue Sedgwick Avenue is a major street in the Bronx, New York City. It runs roughly parallel to Jerome Avenue, the Major Deegan Expressway, and University Avenue. Sedgwick Avenue is one of the longest streets in the western part of the Bronx, run ...

, on the Hudson Division's right of way in the Bronx, and the northward-curving structure connecting the east end of the bridge to the Hudson Division was demolished. The IRT, which by then had taken over operation of the 9th Avenue El from the

Manhattan Railway Company The Manhattan Railway Company was an elevated railway company in Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City, United States. It operated four lines: the Second Avenue Line, Third Avenue Line, Sixth Avenue Line, and Ninth Avenue Line. History 19 ...

, reconfigured the 155th Street terminal to allow elevated trains direct access to the bridge, and on the Bronx side of the river constructed a new right-of-way, partially elevated and partially in tunnel, eastward from the bridge to a connection with the new Jerome Avenue elevated line at 162nd Street. Through service over this new line to the 167th Street station was inaugurated July 1 of that year, and extended to the northern terminus at Woodlawn by January 2, 1919. Train service on the 9th Avenue El south of 155th Street was discontinued June 12, 1940, on the occasion of the City of New York assuming operation of the IRT; nevertheless, the segment crossing the bridge continued to be operated between 155th Street in Manhattan and 167th Street in the Bronx, as a shuttle serving the Polo Grounds. However, the New York Giants baseball team was moved from the Polo Grounds to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

after the 1957 season, and the Putnam Division ceased running passenger service on May 29, 1958. These two events reduced ridership to the extent that it was no longer economically feasible to continue running the shuttle, and it was discontinued August 31, 1958. The bridge's extreme narrowness of between the centers of the trusses,Phoenix Bridge Company
''Album of designs of the Phœnix Bridge Company : successors to Clarke, Reeves & Co., Phœnixville Bridge Works.''
J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1885. p.31 combined with the presence of the Macombs Dam Bridge only a few hundred feet to the south, made it impractical and unnecessary to convert to a roadway bridge, and it was removed in 1960.

References

External links

Picture of Putnam BridgeSide view of bridge
{{NYC Bridge Bridges in Manhattan Bridges in the Bronx Bridges over the Harlem River Demolished buildings and structures in the Bronx New York Central Railroad bridges Railroad bridges in New York City Swing bridges in the United States Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan