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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Kennebec, Kennebec County

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Inventory Number: ME/19-06-04x
County: Kennebec County
Township: Augusta
Town/Village: Augusta
Bridge Name: Kennebec
Crosses: Kennebec River
Truss type:
Spans: 2
Length: c400'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1818
Builder: Benjamin Brown and Ephraim Ballard Jr.
When Lost: 02 Apr 1827
Cause: Burned
Latitude: N44 19.01
Longitude: W069 46.33
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Comments:
The act incorporating the proprietors of the Kennebec bridge was passed February 8, 1796. It was a stipulation in the charter that the bridge should be located "between the ferry called Pollard's ferry [now the town-landing] and the Mill stream [Bond's brook] so called, which empties into Kennebec river about one hundred rods north of said ferry." On the 9th of September, 1797, the completion of the pier in the channel was celebrated by "seven discharges of a field piece and three cheers." The work was finished November 21st and had cost $27,000. It stood until Sunday, June 23, 1816, in the afternoon, when the eastern span fell from weakness and decay. After a delay of two years a second bridge was built, after the model of the initial bridge, but more elaborate, on the same spot, under contract, by Benjamin Brown and Ephraim Ballard, for about $10,000. This second bridge was destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1827. The 1827 fire was possibly arson. The two spans collapsed into the river and floated downstream burning. An engraving from 1823 shows the bridge as covered and double-barrel. The construction of the second bridge after the first suggest that it was also covered.

Sources:
Kingsbury, Henry D. & Simeon L. Deyo (editors), "Illustrated History of Kennebec County Maine, 1892, New York.
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume LIX, No. 1, Winter 2001, page 7
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Maine's Covered Bridges, 2003, page 49