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Bissell, Franklin County

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

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Inventory Number: MA/21-06-04#2
County: Franklin County
Township: Charlemont
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Bissell
Crosses: Mill Brook
Truss type: Long Variation
Spans: 1
Length: 92'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1951
Builder: T.J. Harvey
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N42 37.900
Longitude: W072 52.134
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.3 miles north of jct MA2 on MA8A.

Bissell Bridge, Charlemont, Franklin County, MA Built 1951
Bill Caswell Photo, September 2007

Bissell Bridge, Charlemont, Franklin County, MA Built 1951
Bob Sheldon Photo, August 4, 2009

Comments:
Town records indicate that at a March 1880 meeting it was voted to build a bridge near Adam Bissell's. A committee was selected to supervise the construction of the bridge at a cost of $600. An important factor in the construction of the original bridge was caused by increased traffic when the Davis Mine opened in 1882. Ore wagons, carrying iron and sulfur, crossed the bridge for many years. In the late 1940s, the bridge was condemned. Plans were made to build a replacement bridge which was constructed in 1951 at a cost of $54,962.75 using Douglas fir from Oregon. This bridge was closed in 1995. According to an article in the Milliford Daily News, the state proposed replacing the structure with a new modern steel and concrete bridge but the citizens of Charlemont, Massachusetts, in what has been referred to as "the standoff in Charlemont," banded together and fought the project, preferring to keep their "covered bridge." The state owns the bridge, but the town controls the crossing thus the stalemate. State engineers finally agreed that the bridge could be repaired using wood and a few steel strengthening bars. The bridge was rebuilt and reopened in May 2009. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places February 26, 2004.

Sources:
Evans, Benjamin D. & June R.. New England's Covered Bridges, 2004, pages 65-66
Burk, John. Covered Bridges of Massachusetts, 2010, Pages 37-38
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 39

Compilation 2026 Covered Spans of Yesteryear

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