Shenango River Railroad Bridge (Pennsylvania Railroad)

The Shenango River Bridge formerly carried the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Shenango River in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

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The Shenango River Bridge formerly carried the Pennsylvania Railroad across the Shenango River in New Castle, Pennsylvania. The Pratt through truss structure connected the Erie & Pittsburgh Division mainline at West Washington Street with the Oil City Division near Furnace Street, cutting directly through the Republic Iron & Steel Company and American Steel & Wire Company complexes. The bridge may have been designed by the Penn Bridge Company of Beaver Falls.

History

The bridge site occupies land once developed as the Aetna Iron Works, a rolling mill and nail factory constructed in 1838. ⁵ The original facility included a water-powered rolling machine, two heating furnaces, and eight nail machines. Expansion followed in 1846 with the addition of a new nail factory containing 22 machines, along with a bar and guide mill.

In 1850, a chartered stock company known as the Cosalo Iron Company was formed. ⁵ The works were acquired by the Crawford brothers in 1858 and later sold to Dithridge & Company of Pittsburgh, which renamed the facility the Lawrence Iron Works. Ownership changed again in 1872 when the site was sold to the Onondaga Iron & Nail Works.

Two blast furnaces were completed in 1867 by the Lawrence Iron Company, each capable of producing approximately 40 tons of iron per day. ⁵ These furnaces supplied raw material to the Onondaga works and were operated by Lawrence until 1872, when they were sold to Onondaga. The property later passed through successive owners, including the Atlantic Iron & Steel Company and the Republic Iron Works.

The Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad (E&P), begun in 1860, was completed between Erie and New Castle on June 15, 1864. ⁷ In April 1870, the line was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), becoming the Erie & Pittsburgh Branch. ^{1 6} The branch extended from Lawrence Junction, south of New Castle, where it connected with the Pittsburgh, Youngstown & Ashtabula Railroad, northward to Erie. ⁶

For much of its operational life, the Erie & Pittsburgh Branch hauled coal from lines south of Pittsburgh to Lake Erie docks while also serving steel mills and heavy industries in New Castle and the Wheatland, Farrell, and Sharon areas. ⁶ Following the formation of Penn Central, the segment north of Jamestown was abandoned after a new connection allowed trains to reach Ashtabula via the former New York Central Stoneboro Branch. After the creation of Conrail in 1976, the line between New Castle and Wheatland was placed out of service and subsequently abandoned in 1982, along with much of the route between Sharpsville and Jamestown. ⁸

Notations

• An 1899 Sanborn Insurance Company map depicts a 260-foot frame bridge at the site. ³ At that time, the Atlantic Iron & Steel Company rolling mill at the confluence of the Shenango River and Neshannock Creek was active and served by both the New Castle & Shenango Valley Railroad—later part of the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad and subsequently the Erie Railroad—and the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad. Blast furnaces north of the Shenango River were also shown as active and under Atlantic Iron & Steel ownership.
• By 1904, Sanborn maps indicate that the Atlantic Iron & Steel Company rolling mill at the river confluence had closed. ² Industrial operations north of the Shenango River remained active under the ownership of the Republic Iron & Steel Company, with rail service provided by the Pennsylvania Railroad as successor to the Erie & Pittsburgh line.

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Gallery

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Sources

1. “New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, September 1920, new and additional maps.” PennState University Libraries, map.
2. “Insurance maps of New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, 1904.” PennState University Libraries, map.
3. “Insurance maps of New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 1899.” PennState University Libraries, map.
4. “Insurance maps of New Castle, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 1888.” PennState University Libraries, map.
5. Hazen, Aaron L. “Aetna Iron Works.” 20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens. Chicago, Richmond-Arnold, 1908.
6. Jordak, Jerry W., editor. “Erie & Pittsburgh Branch.” Keystone Crossings, article.
7. “History of New Castle Depicted in Essay by Franklin School Pupil.” New Castle Herald, 1 Mar. 1923, p. 8.
8. Mercer County MPO Bicycle/Pedestrian Action Plan. Gannett Fleming, Sept. 2001.