Atherton Bridge

History

The Atherton Bridge is a historic iron truss bridge in Lancaster, Massachusetts, spanning the South Branch of the Nashua River. It is a rare example of a hybrid pony truss that is similar to the 19th century truss design of Simeon S. Post. It was built by J. H. Cofrode & Co. of Philadelphia in 1870. It was the first iron bridge to be constructed in the town. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The bridge formerly carried Bolton Road, but was closed to vehicular traffic in 1975 and bypassed by a modern highway bridge in the 1980s.

The bridge remained open to pedestrian traffic until April 2020, when a flash flood damaged the bridge's wooden deck and it was closed to all traffic. The long-term future of the bridge is uncertain.

The sign commemorating Atherton Bridge states:

ATHERTON BRIDGE

There has been a bridge at this location since early settlement. It is named for [[James Atherton (early settler to Massachusetts)

|James Atherton]], one of the signers of the petition for incorporation of the town in 1652. The 1794 map lists the bridge as 90 feet long on a county way Lancaster’s first iron bridge was placed here in 1870.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.