History
Fort Harmar was constructed along the west bank of the Muskingum River in 1785, followed by the establishment of Marietta on the east bank of the river. 4 Fort Harmar, which developed into a distinct neighborhood of Marietta, was connected across the Muskingum with a 900-foot covered bridge in 1856.
In the same year, the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad (M&C) had been leased to the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway (B&O SW), which later provided the B&O an important connection to the Midwest. 5 Construction began on the 173-mile M&C between Harmar and the Little Miami Railroad at Loveland in the spring of 1851, which opened on April 9, 1857. The M&C used trackage rights along the Little Miami to reach Cincinnati.
In 1873, the M&C acquired the Harmar crossing, replaced the covered bridge with an iron superstructure, and installed a central swing span. 4 It would enable the passage of larger steamboats along the Muskingum River.
The M&C connected with the Marietta & Pittsburg Railroad’s Marietta City Branch which enabled a connection to Dover and later Cleveland.
The M&C became the Cincinnati, Baltimore & Washington Railway (CB&W) on February 16, 1883. 6 The CB&W, along with the Cincinnati & Baltimore and the Baltimore Short Line railroads, merged to become the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad (B&O SW) in December 1889, which was absorbed into its parent, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), in 1900.
Three of the four spans of the bridge were replaced after they were destroyed by floodwaters in 1913. 4
The B&O abandoned the Harmar bridge in 1962. The non-profit Harmar Bridge Company was formed in the 1980s, which fundraised money to add a pedestrian walkway alongside the railroad bridge. 7
On February 29, 2020, 8 the crossing was closed to pedestrians because of the bridge’s structural deterioration and liability to the Harmar Bridge Company. 7 It has been estimated to cost between $2 million and $4 million to build a pedestrian walkway within the iron superstructure of the bridge.
Structure
Dimensions & Classification
| Structural Form | Through Truss — Pratt |
|---|
Photographs
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Sources & Citations
References for this location, in MLA format.
Show all 8 sources
- “Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad History.” 2014.
- “Cleveland and Marietta Railway Company.” Ohio Railway Report 1860’s History, 22 Feb. 2016. Accessed 22 Feb. 2016.
- “Photos of Yesteryear.” Byesville Scenic Railway, 1 Mar. 2016. ↗ Accessed 1 Mar. 2016.
- Pytlik, Laura. “Suspended in Time.” Clutch Mov, 1 Nov. 2015. ↗
- Reynolds, Kirk, and Dave Oroszi. “Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern.” Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, 2000.
- Morris, J. “1840’s History.” Annual Report of the Commissioner of Railroads and, 31 Dec. 1902. ↗ Accessed 10 Aug. 2010.
- Patterson, Janelle. “Harmar Walking Bridge closing to pedestrian traffic.” Marietta Times, 20 Feb. 2020.
- Patterson, Janelle. “Historic Harmar Bridge scheduled to close Saturday.” Marietta Times, 25 Feb. 2020.
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