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Contoocook Railroad, Merrimack County

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Inventory Number: NH/29-07-07#2
State of New Hampshire Number: 10
County: Merrimack County
Township: Hopkinton
Town/Village: Contoocook
Bridge Name: Contoocook Railroad
Crosses: Contoocook River
Truss type: Town (Double)
Spans: 2
Length: 157'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1889
Builder: Boston & Maine Railroad
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N43 13.384
Longitude: W071 42.832
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: Just northwest of jct NH127 on northeast side of NH103. On abandoned railroad right-of-way. At Contoocook.

Contoocook Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH Built 1889
C. Ernest Walker Photo, NSPCB Archives

Contoocook Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH Built 1889
NH Department of Transportation Files

Contoocook Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH Built 1889
Bill Caswell Photo (2002)

Contoocook Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH Built 1889
Bill Caswell Photo, March 25, 2007

Contoocook Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH Built 1889
Richard E. Roy Collection, 1936 or 1938

Contoocook Railroad Bridge, Hopkinton, Merrimack County, NH Built 1889
Bill Caswell Photo, May 11, 2019

Comments:
Boston & Maine Railroad #125. The structure was originally built when the Concord and Claremont Railroad laid its first 33 miles of track from Concord to Bradford, N.H. In the fall of 1850 when trains began to run regularly between Concord and Contoocook, a "day of great festivity" was held. Speeches were made, the band played, and the cannon thundered. A thousand people sat down to eat at a public dinner that cost $200 to put on. After the Boston & Maine Railroad took over the line in 1888, man of the wooden bridges were upgraded for heavier loads. The 1914 Valuation Survey lists its construction date as 1889. It was probably designed by Jonathan Parker Snow and built by carpenter David Hazelton. The bridge washed off its abutments in 1936 when the Contoocook River flooded and again in 1938 from a hurricane. The bridge was kept from washing downstream because the rails were bolted together at each joint. After the flood water receded, the bridge was drawn back to its location and restored. From 1962 until 1990 a Contoocook merchant owned and used it as a warehouse. In 1990 the bridge was given to the New Hampshire Division of Historic Resources under RSA 234:31. In the National Register of Historic Places Inventory (nomination form) it was stated that this bridge is the oldest covered railroad bridge still standing in the United States. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1980.

Sources:
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 51
Chandler, Kim Varney. Covered Bridges of New Hampshire, 2022, Pages 35-39

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