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Although there are conflicting accounts of which McClintic-Marshall entity actually was awarded the contract to build the superstructure of the Washington Crossing bridge, Allegheny County Commissioners' minute books consistently refer to the "McClintic-Marshall Construction Company" (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:287, 304). [10] According to the minutes of November 24, 1922, the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company was the low bidder for two options: copper bearing steel and carbon steel. With a bid of $728,677.51 for the former and $708,536.96 for the latter, the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company edged out the Fort Pitt Bridge Works and the American Bridge Company (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:287). According to the McClintic-Marshall Construction Company bid, the specifications called for 7,416,600 pounds of structural 0.steel (carbon or copper bearing), 5,715,900 pounds of plated girder spans, 4,418 linear feet of hand railing, eighty light poles and 33,350 square feet of smoke shields (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:287).

All-Steel Equipment Company

There were only two bidders for the Ornamental Work on the Washington Crossing bridge: Hecklin Iron Works and the All-Steel Equipment Company. The All-Steel Equipment Company, which offered bids on two design sets, underbid its competitor on both by ten thousand dollars. The All-Steel Equipment Company was incorporated in 1917 under charter allowing them to buy and sell "at wholesale and retail, erecting, installing and leasing and renewing of furniture, fixtures and equipment of every description for offices, buildings and structures of all kinds" (Allegheny County Charter Book 51:121). Capitalized at $15,000, the company had three charter subscribers: A.G. Wells, George W. English and Earl A. Morton (Allegheny County Charter Book 51:121).

The specifications for the Ornamental Work section included 288 "shields for hand railing," bronze bands and lanterns on entrance colomns [sic.], six sets of "cast iron panels, ribbons, and car touches," light brackets, bronze letters (for bridge towers) and bronze name plates. The All-Steel Equipment Company, according to a pamphlet published at the opening of the bridge, subcontracted with John Donnelly and Company of New York City to design the cartouches located in each of the arch spans and the shields depicting the seals of the original thirteen

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10] A pamphlet published in conjunction with the bridge's opening identified the "McClintic-Marshall Company" as the contractor responsible for construction of the superstructure of the Washington Crossing bridge (Anonymous 1924:16).

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colonies and Allegheny County; the cartouches and shields subsequently were cast by the Michaels Art Bronze Company of Covington, Kentucky (Anonymous 1924:19)

James H. McQuade and Sons Company

Incorporated in Pittsburgh in 1917, the James H. McQuade and Sons Company was formed to conduct a general contracting business (Allegheny County Charter Book 52:114). The company was formed by James H. McQuade Senior and his sons, James (junior) and William E. with a working capital of $50,000. The company bid against Thomas Cronin and Company for the contract for Section 3, paving on the bridge and won with a bid of $68,584.55 against Cronin's $99 thousand bid (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:287,332).

Construction Details

Before construction of the Fortieth Street Bridge began, the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners had to overcome several obstacles, the greatest of which was the acquisition of nearly twenty acres of land owned by the U.S. War Department comprising a portion of the Pittsburgh Storage and Supply Depot (Pittsburgh Arsenal) on the Lawrenceville side of the river. The Secretary of War was authorized by an act of Congress June 6, 1922 to sell "upon terms and conditions deemed advisable by him" a portion of the former Pittsburgh Arsenal (67th Cong. 2d sess. Chapt. 208). The sticking point, it seems, was the asking price for the land.

Citing the financial hardships incurred by their constituents because of the War Department's bridge raising order, officials of both Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh requested that the War Department transfer the title to the needed land for a nominal fee, i.e., donate the land (Pittsburgh Post July 26, 1922). The Secretary of War replied "that no authority existed for the transfer for a nominal consideration the necessary ground for an approach to the Fortieth Street Bridge" (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:173). Negotiations between the county and the War Department were deadlocked and offers to mediate were made by the Allegheny River Improvement Association and the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:233, 261).

The land -- 64,000 square feet -- was appraised at $128,000 (Pittsburgh Post July 26, 1922). It appears that the War Department's demands for a fair market price on the lands were met and on October 21, 1922, the United States of America transferred the title to a portion of the Pittsburgh Arsenal property to the County of Allegheny for $129,014.42 (Allegheny County Deed Book 2128:634).

Construction on the Fortieth Street Bridge began in February, 1923. During the course of construction, there were several modifications made to the structure's design. Although most of the diversions from the plans were a result of cost-cutting measures by Allegheny County Commissioners, some were enhancements suggested by contractors. For instance, on October

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20, 1923, a request was made to change the concrete mix proposed for the bridge piers that included the addition of fluxite (as a densifier) and hardeners. On the recommendation of Janssen, County Commissioners approved an additional $45,448.75 for the changes to contract awarded to the H.P. Converse and Company (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1923-1925, 10:17).

Four months into construction, in June, 1923, McClintic-Marshall notified Janssen that the company could not procure the "checkered plates called for in the plans" and requested that they be allowed to "substitute plain copper-bearing steel plates" with a credit to the county of $275 (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:517). McClintic-Marshall also requested to modify the expansion joint cover plates with "4" interlocking teeth throughout the bridge," but Janssen did not concur with the recommendation and it was denied (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1922-1923, 9:517).

One of the greatest departures from the construction plans concerned the construction of a $75 thousand "comfort station" at the Lawrenceville approach. County commissioners voted on January 6, 1924 ". . . that plans be rejected for this comfort station due to the excessive cost" (Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1923-1925, 10:76). And, preliminary plans drawn-up by Janssen illustrate decorative "acorn" pendants that were to have been suspended beneath the walkways on the handrails. It appears these decorative elements were never realized.

Construction of the Washington Crossing bridge was completed in the fall of 1924. Pittsburgh newspapers began reporting in October, 1924 that the county was planning to open the bridge in December to coincide with "the one hundred and seventy-first anniversary of the day George Washington crossed the swift running stream at that point" (Pittsburgh Gazette October 25, 1924). On November 14, 1924, the Pittsburgh Gazette reported, "The final connection on the bridge, linking the northside of the river with Lawrenceville, was made" and that the first person to cross the river on the new bridge was the wife of R.O. Toms (a superintendent with the McClintic-Marshall Company. According to the Pittsburgh Post, the first automobile across the bridge was driven by County Commissioner James Houlahen December 9, 1924.

The Washington Crossing bridge was dedicated Monday December 29, 1924. [11] At the time the bridge was opened, estimates of its cost were approximately $2.3 million. Two years later, county engineer Covell wrote that its final cost was $2,880,000 (Covell 1926:91).

Pittsburgh newspapers reported that seven thousand people turned out to witness the formal dedication of the Washington Crossing bridge (Pittsburgh Post December 30, 1924). The new bridge was hailed by Pittsburgh residents and people in outlying boroughs as "Pittsburgh's

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11] The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, in their book Historic Highway Bridges of Pennsylvania (PennDOT 1986:102) incorrectly noted that the bridge opened December 24, 1924.

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newest pathway to progress" (Pittsburgh Post December 24, 1924). Communities such as Etna, located six miles upstream from Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River, looked forward to the improved access to Pittsburgh that the bridge would afford, as well as the improvements done to East Ohio Street in conjunction with the construction of the bridge (Pittsburgh Post December 24, 1924). Businesses, such as the Pittsburgh Provision and Packing Company [12] on Herr's Island and Fried and Reineman Packing Company, took out large display advertisements in a special section of the Pittsburgh Post dedicated to the new bridge. Fried and Reineman's ad noted that they were "A modern packing house" located at "East Ohio Blvd., Northwest End of Washington Bridge" (Pittsburgh Post December 29, 1924).

In a review of Allegheny County's "Bridge Raising Program," Vernon R. Covell wrote that the completed design of the Fortieth Street bridge resulted in ". . . one of the most pleasing outlines of any of our bridges" (Covell 1926:91). After the Washington Crossing bridge was opened, Allegheny County closed the obsolete Forty-Third Street bridge and on December 30, 1924, county commissioners awarded a contract to Walter S. Rae to demolish the bridge "at once" (Pittsburgh Gazette December 31, 1924).

Seven years after the Fortieth Street bridge was opened, architect Benno Janssen sued Allegheny County for $68,122.52 for "extra work and expenses due to delay" in construction of the bridge (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette January 9, 1931). According to one newspaper report, the original design of the bridge included a curve. Elimination of the curve and another, unspecified, change in the plans created additional work for Janssen's firm, Janssen and Cocken (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette March 2, 1931). At a hearing before county commissioners, Janssen agreed to accept $23,000, plus interest accrued since 1926. Two months later, the county and Janssen settled their dispute at $31,935 (Pittsburgh Post Gazette May 13, 1931).

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12] A subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, operated jointly with the Pittsburgh Joint Stockyards on Herr's Island, downstream from the Washington Crossing bridge.

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Allegheny County owned and maintained the Fortieth Street bridge until September 18, 1961 when the Pennsylvania legislature passed an act "Establishing and taking over as State Highways certain county highways, or sections thereof, tunnels, bridges, viaducts and approaches thereto . . ." (1961 P.L. 1389). Alterations to the original structure since its construction include the placement of concrete barriers between the travel lanes and sidewalks and the replacement of metal doors inside the approach pylons leading to internal stairways.[13]

Other changes to the bridge include an effort organized by local residents to add color to the tarnished ornamental plaques attached to the bridges handrails. In 1975, Stan Hubstenberger convinced Allegheny County and PennDOT to allow him and a volunteer crew to "paint the seals in full color" (Pittsburgh Press May 27, 1976). The bridge, in 1967, was documented for the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) by a team of Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie Mellon University) architects and a set of fourteen measured drawings was prepared and deposited in the Library of Congress (HABS No. PA-1179). On June 22, 1988 the Fortieth Street bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an contributing element in the multiple resource nomination Highway Bridges Owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

Legal Instruments

Deed Books. Recorder of Deeds, Allegheny County. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Charter Books. Recorder of Deeds, Allegheny County. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Manuscripts and Archives

Allegheny County Records Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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13] Maintenance files and drawings of the bridge were requested from PennDOT's District 11-0 office June 27, 1997 and again July 3, 1997. Bridge engineer Dennis Sopchack indicated that the materials were "not in the office" and that he believed they were "signed out to a consultant." As a result, this material was unavailable for research during the present project.

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Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania Room.

Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Archives and Library.

U.S. National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region. Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, Record Group 77. 1789-1988. Sub-group 77.10.45, Records of the Pittsburgh, PA, District.

References Cited

Allegheny County. Board of Commissioners 1918-1920 Allegheny County Commissioners Minute Book, December 13, 1918 - October 14, 1920, Vol. 7. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Allegheny County Board of Commissioners.

___. 1922-1923 Allegheny County Commissioners Minute Book, March 2, 1922 - September 11, 1923, Vol. 9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Allegheny County Board of Commissioners.

___. 1923-1925 Allegheny County Commissioners Minute Book, September 12, 1923 - December 31, 1925, Vol. 10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Allegheny County Board of Commissioners.

Anderson, H.S. 1910 Letter to J.M. Dickinson, Secretary of War. National Archives, Record Group 77. Records of the Corps of Engineers. Pittsburgh District, no. E-1308. Box 7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region, January 3, 1910.

Anonymous 1924 Washington Crossing Memorial Bridge Built By Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1919-1924. Pamphlet on file, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh vertical file "Pittsburgh Bridges: Washington Crossing."

Beatty, Magee and Martin, Edward B. Vaill, C.A. O'Brien and C.K. Robinson, authors n.d. Brief on Behalf of the County of Allegheny and the City of Pittsburgh. Before the War Department of the United States. In Re Elevation of the Bridges over the Allegheny River. Records of the Corps of Engineers. Pittsburgh District. Record Group 77. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region.

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Chalfant, J.G. 1916 Affidavit of J.G. Chalfant. Records of the Corps of Engineers. Pittsburgh District. Record Group 77. Box 1309-A.

Corpus Juris Secundum. Corpus Juris Secundum.

Covell, Vernon R. 1926 The Bridge-Raising Program on the Allegheny River in Allegheny County. Proceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania 41:81-104.

Darnell, Victor C. 1984 Directory of American Bridge-Building Companies, 1840-1900. No. 4. Occasional Publication. Washington, D.C.: Society for Industrial Archaeology.

Davis, Daniel E. 1942 Memoir of Charles Stratton Davis. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers 107:1737-1738.

Engineering News-Record 1923 Architects' Bridge Design Again Under Discussion. Engineering News-Record 91(July 26):155-156.

Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania 1920 Abstract of Minutes. February 1920. Proceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania 36:11-12.

Farrington, P.M., S.J. Fenves and J.A. Tarr 1982 The Allegheny County Highway and Bridge Program 1924-1932. Report #R-82-132. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Dept. of Civil Engineering. Carnegie Mellon University.

Holmberg, James C. 1981 The Industrializing Community: Pittsburgh, 1850-1880. Diss. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh.

Kidney, Walter 1985 Landmark Architecture: Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

The Montello 1870 U.S. Reporter. Washington, D.C.

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National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region 1897 National Archives, Record Group 77. Records of the Corps of Engineers. Pittsburgh District. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region, July 14, 1897.

Powell, Charles F. 1897 Letter, U.S. Engineer Office to The Marmet Co. National Archives, Record Group 77. Records of the Corps of Engineers. Pittsburgh District. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region, July 14, 1897.

___. 1900 Record of Hearing May 10, 1900, Forty-Third Street Bridge. National Archives, Record Group 77. Records of the Corps of Engineers. Pittsburgh District, no. E-1308. Box 7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region, May 10, 1900.

Rotenstein, David S. 1997 Leather Bound: Nineteenth Century Leather Tanners in Allegheny City. Pittsburgh History 80(1):32-47.

Symons, Thomas W. and Frederick Law Olmsted 1910 The City and the Allegheny River Bridges: Recommendations for Bridge Heights and Pier Locations to Meet the Various Transportation Needs of Pittsburgh. Report prepared for the Committee on City Planning. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Civic Commission.

Tarr, Joel A. 1989 Infrastructure and City Building in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Pp. 213-263 in City at the Point: Essays on the Social History of Pittsburgh. Edited by Samuel Hays. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Union Bridge Company v. United States 1906-1907 Supreme Court Reporter 27:367-394.

United States v. Union Bridge Company 1906 Federal Reporter 143:377-394.

United States. War Department 1912 Report on Examination of Allegheny River, Pa., with Plan and Estimate on Cost of Improvement, With a View to the Construction of Additional Locks and Dams. 62nd Cong. 2d sess. H. Doc. 540.

___. 1920 War Department Annual Reports, 1920. Vol. II, Report of the Chief of Engineers.

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Van Trump, James 1983 Life and Architecture in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation.

Watson, Wilbur J. 1930 Bridge Architecture. Proceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania 46:77-94.

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Location Map Source: U.S.G.S. Pittsburgh East, Pa. Quadrangle 7.5 Minute Series 1993

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Project Area, 1916.

Note former Forty-third Street Bridge and future Fortieth Street Bridge locations.

Source: Record Group 77. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Archives and Records Administration - Mid-Atlantic Region.

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APPENDIX:

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY OF THE FORTIETH STREET BRIDGE

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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

62d Cong. 3d sess. CHAP. 144. p. 805 (March 4, 1913): $300,000 appropriation for improvements to the Allegheny River and harbor at Pittsburgh revoked "until the Secretary of War shall have received satisfactory assurances that channel spans of the bridges forming unreasonable obstructions to the navigation of the Allegheny River will be modified as recommended."

*

65th Cong. 3d sess. CHAP. 66. -- An Act Granting the consent of Congress to the County of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge across the Allegheny River at or near Millvale Borough, in the County of Allegheny, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to the County of Allegheny, in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and its successors and assigns, to construct, maintain, and operate a bridge, with approaches thereto, across the Allegheny River at a point suitable to the interests of navigation at or near the borough of Millvale, in the County of Allegheny, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in accordance with the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of bridges over navigable waters," approved March twenty-third, nineteen hundred and six.

Sec. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is expressly reserved.

Approved, February 27, 1919.

*

66th Cong. 2d sess. CHAP. 290. -- An Act to Extend the time for the construction of a bridge over the Allegheny River at or near Millvale Borough, in the county of Allegheny, in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress Assembled, That the times for commencing and completing the construction of a bridge, authorized by an Act of Congress approved February 27, 1919, to be built across the Allegheny River, at or near the borough of Millvale, in the county of Allegheny, in the

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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, are hereby extended two and four years, respectively, from the date of approval hereof.

Sec. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or appeal this Act is hereby expressly reserved.

Approved, June 14, 1920.

*

67th Cong. 2d. sess. CHAP. 208. -- An Act To authorize the Secretary of War to sell real property known as the Pittsburgh Storage Supply Depot, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized to sell at either public or private sale, upon terms and conditions deemed advisable by him, the land and improvements thereon erected, situated in the city of Pittsburgh, State of Pennsylvania, lying between Thirty-ninth Street, Fortieth Street, Butler Street, and the Allegheny River in said city, comprising an area of approximately nineteen and three-fourths acres, and also a certain parcel of land in said city of Pittsburgh located at the northwest corner of Geneva Street and Forty-fourth Street, comprising approximately one-half acre, together with easements and rights of way leading thereto, all of which said property is generally known as the Pittsburgh Storage and Supply Depot, and to sell this same as a whole or in parcels, as the Secretary of War may determine, and to execute and deliver in the name of the United -States and in its behalf any and all deeds or other instruments necessary to effect such sale.

SEC. 2. That all moneys received as the proceeds of such sale, after deducting the necessary expenses connected therewith, shall be deposited in Treasury of the United States to the credit of miscellaneous receipts.

Approved, June 6, 1922.

Page created:
Last modified: 15-May-2002

HAER Text: Dr. David S. Rotenstein, 1997. [Eric DeLony (Chief, HAER); Dr. Mark Brown, project historian; Robert Grzywacz, architectural field supervisor] ; Pennsylvania Historic Bridges Recording Project - I
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