Theodore Burr (August 16, 1771 – November 22, 1822) was an inventor from

Torrington, Connecticut Torrington is the most populated municipality and largest city in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States, and the Northwest Hills Planning Region, Connecticut, Northwest Hills Planning Region. It is also the core city of Greater Torringto ...

, who was credited with the Burr Arch Truss bridge design. He designed and built one of the first bridges across the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

and several bridges that crossed the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

Patent

Burr was awarded

US Patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limit ...

No. 2769 on April 4, 1817, for his arch and truss bridge design. The "Burr arch truss" used two long arches, resting on the abutments on either end, that typically sandwiched a multiple kingpost structure. Theodore Burr built nearly every bridge that crossed the Susquehanna River from

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

, to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

in the early 19th century. His successes made him the most distinguished architect of bridges in the country.

Professional life

Theodore Burr came to

Oxford, New York Oxford is a town in Chenango County, New York, United States. The town contains a village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hu ...

in 1792. By 1794, he had built a grist mill (once owned by Fletcher & Corbin), and a dam to power the mill. In 1800, he built the first stringer bridge across the

Chenango River The Chenango River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissec ...

in Oxford. Around 1804, Burr built the first "sizable bridge" crossing

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

's Hudson River, at Waterford, New York. It stood for over a century until it was destroyed by fire in 1909. A few miles from the Waterford bridge, in 1808 the 997-foot Burr Bridge in Schenectady, NY was opened, held up by 7 piers. It was a suspension bridge rather than an arched bridge, the suspension cables being made of wood. It originally consisted of four very long spans across three piers, but it soon started to sag and four additional piers were added to support it.Burr Bridge
/ref> From 1809 to 1811, he built an impressive Federal style house for his family at 8 Fort Hill Park in Oxford. Wings were added to both sides of the house at a later and unknown date. The building still stands and houses the Oxford Memorial Library. Between 1811 and 1818, Burr designed, then constructed or supervised five crossings of the Susquehanna River. The first four were in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

at Nescopeck Falls ( Berwick), Columbia,

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

, and

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. The last was the Susquehanna River Bridge near Port Deposit, Maryland.

Personal life

In 1789, Burr married Asenath Cook in Hartford, Connecticut. On April 13, 1794, they had a daughter named Philomela Burr.

References

Sources

* * *

External links