Bartram's Covered Bridge

Bartram's Covered Bridge, a historic covered bridge built in 1860, uses a Burr Truss design and carried Goshen Road over Crum Creek on the border between Delaware County and Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is 30ft long and 13ft wide and is the only covered bridge remaining of the 30 which once stood in Delaware County. The bridge has slanted planks at each entrance and is the only covered bridge in Pennsylvania with this feature. According to an on-site marker from the Newtown Square Historical Preservation Society, the bridge was built to be "hi and wide as a load of hay" It was built by Ferdinand Wood and named for Mordecai Bartram.It was closed to traffic in 1941 and stands next to a new bridge on Goshen Road. The east end of the bridge is located in Newtown Township, Delaware County and the west end in Willistown Township, Chester County.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.Economic impactThis bridge was extremely economical to build because the cost was shared between two townships, the material was cheap, and construction was quick. The choice of wood was wise given the time and the cost of the material. The region still has abundant trees, including many hardwoods such as beech trees which further lowered costs, since the materials were local. The bridge was constructed in 1860 when most structures were made from either wood or stone. Wood is by far the cheaper of the materials, and when joined correctly, it can hold tensile forces. Since wood can support tension and bending loads, the bridge could be built at the level of the banks, instead of building a stone arch beneath the deck of the bridge. Additionally, it is much faster to construct a wooden structure than a stone one. Overall, the bridge cost just $1,133 and to date, has only been repaired a few times. The economic impact was not just immediate; currently, the bridge is a historic landmark and helps fund the Historical Society of Newtown Square.