The Marantette Bridge, also known as the Railroad Street Bridge, is a historic vehicle bridge, now closed to traffic, located at Railroad Street over the St. Joseph River in

Mendon, Michigan Mendon is a village in St. Joseph County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The village is located within Mendon Township. As of 2023, the estimated population is 868. The population was 870 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2001.

History

One of the first settlers in Mendon was the Indian trader Patrick Marantette, who arrived in 1833 to manage a trading post located at the site of the

Marantette House The Marantette House is a private house located on Simpson Road in Mendon, Michigan. It is significant as an impressive vernacular version of Greek Revival architecture. Located along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River, it is a ...

near this bridge on the south side of the river. The first local bridge over the St. Joseph River was constructed in 1839 about two-thirds of a mile upstream from the Marantette Bridge. In the late 1850s, the

Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA. The company was formed on January 18, 1854. Beginnings After grapp ...

first proposed a line through Mendon, and in anticipation, Patrick Marantette platted the portion of his land north of the river, including the current Railroad Street. There was apparently no bridge serving Railroad Street until 1873. (note: large pdf file) The 1873 bridge was replaced in 1876. The current bridge was probably built in about 1900. The bridge was constructed by the

Massillon Bridge Company The Massillon Bridge Company, most commonly abbreviated Massillon Bridge Co., was located in Massillon, Ohio and founded by Joseph Davenport in 1869. The company became incorporated in 1887 and remained in operation through the early 1900s. Steel ...

located in

Massillon, Ohio Massillon is a city in western Stark County, Ohio, United States, along the Tuscarawas River. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Massillon is a principal city of the Canton–Massillon metropolitan area, whic ...

. The bridge served vehicular traffic until 1984, when it was closed.

Description

The Marantette Bridge is a single span, eight panel steel Pratt through truss bridge with pinned connections. It measures 141 feet in length and 16 feet in width, and is supported with rubble fieldstone abutments. The bridge has a wooden plank deck, now severely deteriorated, set atop steel stringers and supported by transverse girders. The upper structure is constructed of channels connected by cover plates.

References

External links

Marantette/Railroad Street Bridge
from HistoricBridges.org {{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Steel bridges in the United States Pratt truss bridges in the United States Road bridges in Michigan Buildings and structures in St. Joseph County, Michigan