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Market Street or Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County

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Inventory Number: PA/38-40-05x
County: Luzerne County
Township:
Town/Village: Kingston - Wilkes-Barre
Bridge Name: Market Street or Wilkes-Barre
Crosses: Susquehanna River, North Branch
Truss type: Wernwag
Spans: 4
Length: 740'
Roadway Width: 34'
Built: 1818
Builder: Lewis Wernwag and Mr. Powell
When Lost: 1892
Cause: Replaced
Latitude: N41 14.95
Longitude: W075 53.10
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Market St. (formerly called Center St.).

Market Street or Wilkes-Barre Bridge, Kingston-Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, PA. Built 1818 Replaced 1892
Todd Clark Collection

Comments:
The bridge was completed by the Wilkes-Barre Bridge Company at an initial cost of $44,000 by Wernwag & Powell. In 1819 and 1824 major damage was repaired and the State ultimately became a stockholder for $28,000 in repairs they paid for. The street railway tracks were laid across the river by way of the bridge later in its life.

Sources:
Letter written by his son, John Wernwag, dated August 27, 1874 at Harpers Ferry.
History of Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Wyoming Counties, PA…., W. W. Munsell & Co., NY, 1880.
Moll, Fred J.. Pennsylvania's Covered Bridges - Our Heritage, 2004, pages 114-115
Kipphorn, Thomas. Information received by email, August 2006