The Mederville Bridge is a historic structure located in the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

Mederville, Iowa Mederville is an unincorporated community in Clayton County, Iowa, United States. History Mederville is named for one of its founders, Henry Meder. Mederville's population was 48 in 1902, and 78 in 1925. Education Central Community School Dist ...

, United States. It spans the

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...

for . This is one of only a few

open spandrel arch An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct (a ...

bridges constructed in

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. with Designed by the

Marsh Engineering Company The Marsh Engineering Company was a company that designed many significant bridges in the United States, including a number that survive and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was located at 206 Masonic Temple in Des Moin ...

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

, it replaced a covered timber

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

bridge. Clayton County rejected all of the original bids to build the structure when they all came in too high. Six companies bid a second time on the project, and F. E. Marsh and Company of Des Moines won. They completed in the bridge in 1918 for $17,454.32. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 1998. On October 2, 2021, it was the site where Kelsey Bergan and Mark Schutte got married.

References

External links

* Bridges completed in 1918 Bridges in Clayton County, Iowa Historic American Engineering Record in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Clayton County, Iowa Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Arch bridges in Iowa Concrete bridges in the United States Open-spandrel deck arch bridges in the United States {{Iowa-bridge-struct-stub

See also

References

External links