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Documenting North America's past & present covered bridges

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Athens, Bradford County

If you find errors in the data please contact Bill Caswell.

If you would like to provide information on covered bridges that no longer exist from your state, or adopt a state to work on, we would certainly welcome your assistance. Please contact Trish Kane for more information.

Inventory Number: PA/38-08-05x
County: Bradford County
Township: Athens
Town/Village: Athens
Bridge Name: Athens
Crosses: North Branch Susquehanna River
Truss type: Burr
Spans: 3
Length: c600'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1841
Builder:
When Lost: 1913
Cause: Replaced
Latitude: N41 57.453
Longitude: W076 30.878
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Near Athens.

Athens Bridge, Bradford County, PA. Built 1841
Todd Clark Collection

Athens Bridge, Bradford County, PA. Built 1841
Tom Kipphorn Collection

Athens Bridge, Bradford County, PA. Built 1841
Richard Donovan / Trish Kane Collection

Comments:
18-panel truss. The Canton Independent-Sentinel of June 19, 1913 (page 1) reported that the county commissioners had awarded contracts to replace both of the covered bridges at Towanda and Athens. Per The Evening Times (Sayre), August 7, 1936, "The bridge over the Susquehanna river was built in 1841, with Richard "Dick" Durbin and William Bishop the contractors. James Wilson, one of the workmen, fell from a girder, and compensation was granted for this injury by installing "Jim" as toll keeper before the structure was finished. This position he held for two or three months, being allowed to keep the tolls. The street leading to the bridge first opened in 1842, the land being given by the Athens Bridge Company, Judge Herrick and Thomas R. Davies.

Sources:
The Evening Times (Sayre), August 7, 1936, p.9.
Morning Times, March 25, 2022
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 80-81