The Union Bridge Company was a bridge fabricator and contractor with works in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, (believed closed in 1890 per HAER references) and

Athens, Pennsylvania Athens is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located south of the New York state line on the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers. The population was 3,749 in 1900 and 3,796 ...

. The Union Bridge company was formed in 1884 as a merger of several other bridge-building firms. Partners included George S. Field of Buffalo, Edmund B. Hayes of Buffalo, Charles MacDonald of New York City, Thomas C. Clarke of Seabright, NY and Charles Stewart Maurice of Athens, PA.

History

Kellogg, Clarke & Co. was formed in 1869 by Thomas C. Clarke and Charles Kellogg, with the backing of Samuel Reeves of the "Phoenix Iron Works" of

Phoenixville, Pennsylvania Phoenixville is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia at the junction of French Creek (Schuylkill River tributary), French Creek an ...

. In 1871, Kellogg left to form his own company and Clarke and Reeves formed "Clarke, Reeves & Co." In 1884, "Clarke, Reeves & Co." became the "Phoenix Bridge Company." In the same year, Clarke and Charles Macdonald formed the ''Union Bridge Company'' by merger of the "Central Bridge Company" of

and Kellogg and Maurice of

. In 1900, The Union Bridge Company was purchased by the

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsb ...

in a consolidation of 24 US bridge building companies. A company with the same name, chartered in 1873, was involved in a

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

case in 1907 involving compliance with a law giving the

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

the authority to order removal of obstructions to navigation on rivers and waterways. It is not yet clear if this is the same company or not.

Notable projects

* Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge, NSW Central Coast near Sydney, Australia (1889) *

Niagara Cantilever Bridge The Niagara Cantilever Bridge or Michigan Central Railway Cantilever Bridge was a cantilever bridge across the Niagara Gorge. An international railway-only bridge between Canada and the United States, it connected Niagara Falls, New York, and Nia ...

(1883) * Poughkeepsie Bridge (1889) *

Coraopolis Bridge The Coraopolis Bridge is a girder bridge over the back channel of the Ohio River connecting Grand Avenue on Neville Island, Pennsylvania, Neville Island to Ferree Street in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. It opened in 1995 to replace a structure of ...

(1927) * Pasco-Kennewick Bridge (1922) * Provo River Railroad Bridge (1884) (small through truss bridge, notable for having been disassembled, reused as a shorter bridge, then disassembled and reused as a still shorter bridge) * Winona Railroad Bridge (1891) *

Saugatuck River Bridge The Saugatuck River Bridge is a bridge in Connecticut carrying Route 136 over the Saugatuck River in Westport. The bridge, built in 1884, is the oldest surviving movable bridge in Connecticut and is listed on the National Register of Histori ...

(1884) Connecticut swing bridge. Hand cranked. Claimed oldest extant movable bridge in Connecticut. 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 ...

(NRHP) * Cairo Bridge over the Ohio * Memphis Bridge over the Mississippi Not by date: * Big Creek Bridge No. 01180, OR Coast 9, US 101, MP175.02 Heceta Head, OR, listed on the

(NRHP) * Jackson Branch Bridge No. 15, Southern Michigan RR over River Raisin Raisin Township, MI, NRHP-listed *One or more works in Otowi Historic District, 25 mi. N of Santa Fe, on NM 4 in Rio Grande Valley

Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

, NRHP-listed * Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge, Spans Hudson River

Poughkeepsie, NY Poughkeepsie ( ) is a city within the Town of Poughkeepsie, New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie is in the Hudson River Valley region, midway between the core of the New Yor ...

, NRHP-listed * Ten Mile Creek Bridge No. 01181, OR Coast 9, US101, MP171.44 Yachats, OR, NRHP-listed

References

External links

entry
at

Structurae Structurae is an online database containing pictures and information about structural engineering, structural and civil engineering works, and their associated engineers, architects, and builders. Overview Structurae was founded in 1998 by Nico ...

.de (empty of company info but source for some of the notable projects on the list)
article
at nycroads.com about proposed

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 ...

crossings, including one from the Union Bridge Company
archive
from RPI illustration of Poughkeepsie Bridge with notation "Poughkeepsie Bridge - Built by the Union Bridge Company - Charles Macdonald '57 President - Robert Escobar '57 Engineer"
archive
from RPI illustration of Hawkesbury River Railway Bridge (Australia) with notation "Hawkesbury River Bridge - Designed and constructed by the Union Bridge Company - Charles Macdonald '57 of the Union Bridge Company - Robert Escobar '57, Engineer, of the Union Bridge Company"
NRHP
application archive giving ref to Poughkeepsie Bridge and Niagara Cantilever Bridge both being built by UBC

history giving reference to bridge and company
Supreme Court case
of 1907, ''Union Bridge Company vs. United States'' from findlaw.com (may or may not be the same company)

swing bridge, reference claims that UBC was absorbed by ABC in 1900. {{Authority control Companies based in Bradford County, Pennsylvania Companies based in New York City Engineering companies of the United States American companies established in 1884 1884 establishments in New York (state)