The Hufnagle Covered Walking Bridge

 
Hufnagle Memorial Covered Walking Bridge
North 6th Street, Lewisburg Pa

The Gordon A Hufnagle Memorial bridge is an single span built by two Bucknell University Students, in memory of a local hero who lost his life while attempting the rescue of Lewisburg citizens during the 1972 flood. 

Gordon Hufnagle was Lewisburg's chief of police from 1942 to 1970, and then he was promoted to borough safety officer.   On June 22, 1972  the rescue boat he was piloting capsized in the flood waters.

Hufnagle Park in Lewisburg is named for him, and there is a stone with a plaque on it in the park.

Lewisburg Mayor Lewis Hendricks proposed the idea of a bridge in honor of Hufnagle, to cross Bull Run creek for pedestrian traffic.  Bucknell engineering students Brian Hassinger, and Randy Cassidy, both needing a project for their civil engineering design class, offered to take on the project.

Hassinger was quoted as saying: "A lot of senior projects are just blueprints and calculations.  We decided to do a full scale project."

Money for the bridges construction came from the Hufnagle Memorial Fund.  The estimated cost was $35,000, but with massive support from local businesses, the total cost to the Hufnagle fund  was around $5,000.

The bridge, in a "town lattice" design, is a 46 foot single span covered bridge.   The design was patterned after the "first American Covered Bridge by Ithiel Town" - consisting of overlapping beams that resemble a cross crossed garden fence.

Although the first documented covered bridge in the US was erected in Philadelphia c. 1805, the  Ithiel Town  Lattice Truss bridge design is patented in 1820 in the United States, is often referred to as "the first truly American Covered Bridge." 

The roof of the bridge was covered in hand split cedar shingles.   A local furniture builder produced 1,100 trunnels [wooden pegs] used to fasten the beams together.

The span was also designed to "swing away from it's moorings and float parallel to the stream when the creek is high so as not to obstruct water flow."  Steel cables would hold the bridge parallel to the stream of water.

The students constructed it in a one and a half story corrugated steel building, and they had to tear a wall down to move the bridge out. 

 It took about four hours to complete the move and get the bridge in place.

Don Moyer's Crane Service helped to move the bridge, and place it in it's new location,  on Saturday January 16th 1982.  

The bridge was scheduled to leave the west area of Bucknell at 10am, proceed east on Moore Avenue, Loomis, and Walker Streets, north on University Avenue, and South Third Street, then west on Market.

"The footbridge, with its unique 'swing away' design for safety, was to be the focal point of Hufnagle park.

The dedication ceremony, sponsored by the Lewisburg police department, was held at 2:30pm, and reportedly, shingles were still being nailed on the bridge right up until the ribbon was cut.

More than 100 attended the dedication that day. The ribbon was cut by Blanche and Florence Hufnagle, widow and mother of Gordon. 

After the ribbon was cut, and christened with a bottle of champagne, wooden pegs like the ones used to hold the bridge together were distributed as souvenirs.  Hendricks and Cassidy autographed many of the pegs.

The Daily Item reported:

"The recreational area at North Sixth and Market Streets was dedicated to Hufnagle's Memory about a year ago.  The footbridge was placed over Bull Run in the park just before the start of Saturday's ceremony"

On September 3rd 1996, a film crew from the Japanese show Bridges Of the World filmed the bridge for a 4 minute segment on their prime time show, which was originally inspired by The Bridges of Madison County.

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Read more about Hufnagle here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/06/hufnagle-park.html

Keefer Station Covered Bridge

Keefers Station Covered Bridge

Located in Snydertown, Northumberland County Pa

It is a 109-foot-long (33 m), Burr Truss bridge, crossing Shamokin Creek.

The bridge was constructed in 1888 by George W. Keefer, at a cost of $882.  It was restored in 1986. 

Keefers Station Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979

Vandals kicked the siding off the bridge in 1990.

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George Frederick Keefer 1863-1941

Theodore Burr lived for a time in Northumberland County while overseeing the construction of a pair of bridges connecting Northumberland and Sunbury.

Nelson Fithian Davis 1872-1939

 
Dr Nelson Fithian Davis 1872-1939

I first came across the name Nathian Fithian Davis while researching the Sober Chestnut nursery. Davis was the author of the book Chestnut Culture, based primarily on the Sober Nursery.   Months later I was made aware of an archive of covered bridge photos from 1935 and 1936, by the same man. In researching him, I then learned he's also responsible for the collection at Old Main at Bucknell that perished in the fire - which almost certainly contained the mastodon tusk that had been discovered in Lewisburg in 1851.

Nelson Fithian Davis was born in New Jersey in 1872, the son of George and Anna Frances [Moore] Davis.  He studied at Cold Spring Harbor, the University of Chicago, John Hopkins, and Jefferson Medical College.  In 1891, he came to Bucknell University in Lewisburg, first as a student, then an assistant professor, and then the Professor of Biology, remaining at Bucknell for "some 43 years."

https://amzn.to/3ZA9fL8

On his 65th birthday, students and associates presented him with a privately printed volume of scientific articles which they had written in his honor.  "Contributors to the volume include some of the country's leading scientists, graduated of Bucknell."

The Fire at Old Main, Bucknell, 1932

"Dr. Davis built up one of the finest zoological collection in the country.  This collection store in the center section of Old Main, was completely destroyed by the fire in l931 and represented one of the major losses in the conflagration since it contained articles that cannot be replaced."

Sober Nursery, Largest In The World

Davis was a contemporary of Coleman K. Sober, and wrote the book on "Chestnut Culture", featuring Sobers work.  The two were often mentioned together in newspaper articles, appointed to committees and traveling to events together.

The Davis Photo Collection

In 1935 and 1936, Dr. Davis spend a great deal of time pursing an interest in photography, specifically "old wooden bridges".  His collection of Covered Bridge photographs can be found online at:

At the time of his death in 1939, he was survived by his 3rd wife Jessie [Palmer] Davis, and two children, Nelson F. Davis Jr, and Miss Frances M. Davis. He had been widowed twice, his first wife, Nellie Taylor, died in 1904, his second, Marion Briggs, in 1936. He married Jessie in 1937, two years before his death.

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Find an Index to More Local Biographies Here

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Shriners Island Covered Bridge, Lewisburg PA

 
Shriners Island Covered Bridge

That is George Weidensaul  in the sleigh

Located one mile north west of Lewisburg proper, this bridge crossed Buffalo Creek on what is now airport road, near Davy's Market.  It is also sometimes referred to as the Campbell's Mill Bridge, and Campbell's mill road is still nearby.

A 1911 article refers to a nearby mill as the Valley Green Mills at Shriners Island.

The bridge was a two span Burr Truss, 180 feet long.

The bridge was destroyed in the 1936 flood.

1936

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An Index Of Covered Bridges Past and Present

In and Around Northern Central Pa

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-covered-bridges-index.html

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I'm still unclear on exactly where "Shriners Island" was located, but it was a very popular picnic spot, mentioned often in the Lewisburg papers from 1882 into the 1920s.

In 1891, the Lewisburg Chronicle clarified that although known as Shriners Island for many years, it was in fact owned by J.B. Davis for the past 25 years.  

1928

Deibler's Covered Bridge, Northumberland County Pa

 

Located in Little Mahanoy Township, this bridge is in Northumberland County on one side, and Dauphin County on the other.

This bridge stood until it was washed away in the 1972 flood.  Today there is a concrete bridge in it's place.

I've seen this bridge listed as Country Line Bridge, Deiblers Gap Bridge, Deibler's Mill Bride, and Northumberland County #18.

I've seen it listed as built in 1851, and also as built in 1869. I do not know which date is correct.

The bridge was a single span burr truss.

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Find an Index Of Covered Bridges in North Central PA here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-covered-bridges-index.html