Hassenplug Covered Bridge

The Hassenplug Covered Bridge spans Buffalo Creek along North 4th Street in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania.

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The Hassenplug Covered Bridge spans Buffalo Creek along North 4th Street in Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania. Built in 1825, ^{2 5} it is the oldest covered bridge in Pennsylvania and among the oldest in the United States. ² The bridge follows a Burr truss design, patented by Theodore Burr in 1804, and was named for the Hassenplug family, who lived on the north bank of Buffalo Creek and were farmers and brewers. ⁵

Constructed with wooden pins and iron bolts securing its joints, the bridge originally functioned as a fully structural wooden truss. ¹ However, in 1959, the wooden floor system was replaced with steel I-beams, rendering the wood truss ornamental. This modernization was designed by engineer S.R. Collins and completed by John Thatcher & Son of Milton, with the project dedicated on October 12. ^{4 6}

The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. A major restoration project in 2022 was overseen by project engineer Shawn McLaughlin and the Larson Design Group, with work performed by the Nestlerode Contracting Company. ^{1 3} It addressed the steel bridge deficiencies and included replacing the bridge deck, repairing deteriorated areas of the near abutment, stabilizing the channel, and repaving the approaches. ³ Approximately 30$ of the original structural timber was replaced, with the deteriorated structural timbers donated to the Union County Historical Society for use in a covered bridge display project.

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Details

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Sources

1. Bridge nameplate.
2. Evans, Benjamin D., and June R. Evans. New England’s Covered Bridges. University Press of New England, 2004, p. 121.
3. “LDG and Union County Officials Rededicate Historic Covered Bridge.” Larson Design Group.
4. Pennsylvania Department of Internal Affairs. Monthly Bulletin. Vol. 28, 1960, p. 28.
5. Snyder, Charles M. “Hassenplug Bridge.” National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form, Union County Historical Society, 1970.
6. “Rededicate Span in Union County.” The Daily Item, 13 October. 1959, pp. 1-15.