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Cornish-Windsor, Windsor County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-14-14#2 / NH-10-09#2
County: Windsor County / Sullivan County
Township: Windsor - Cornish
Town/Village:
Bridge Name: Cornish-Windsor
Crosses: Connecticut River
Truss type: Town
Spans: 2
Length: 449'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1866
Builder: James Tasker and Bela Fletcher
When Lost: standing
Cause:
Latitude: N43 28.421
Longitude: W072 23.035
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: 0.2 miles east of the intersection of US5/VT12, VT44 and Bridge St. in Windsor on Bridge St.

Cornish-Windsor Bridge, Cornish, NH - Windsor, VT (Built 1866)
Jenn Caswell Photo, September 25, 2010

Cornish-Windsor Bridge, Cornish, NH - Windsor, VT (Built 1866)
Bill Caswell Photo (1984)

Cornish-Windsor Bridge, Cornish, NH - Windsor, VT (Built 1866)
Margaret Foster Photo, NSPCB Archives

Cornish-Windsor Bridge, Cornish, NH - Windsor, VT (Built 1866)
Bill Caswell Photo, January 28, 2018

Comments:
Squared-Timber Lattice truss. There were three uncovered wooden bridges previously built on this site in 1796, 1824 and 1849 (the first covered bridge). The early bridges were destroyed by floods. Per the Vermont Journal (Windsor), May 3, 1850, "The recent rains, and the breaking up of the snow and ice near the sources of the streams, have caused an almost unprecedented swell in the waters, carrying off bridges and damaging all the Railroads.---The newly built portion of the old Bridge over the Connecticut at this place was carried off, last Tuesday [April 30, 1850] morning. We learn that the same fate befell the covered Bridge at Wells River village." Per the Vermont Journal (Windsor), March 3, 1866, "The pressure of ice against the toll-bridge was such that, when the water began to fall, at about 5 o'clock Sunday morning [February 25, 1866], the superstructure, in one solid mass, was lifted from the piers and abutments and carried down the river about a hundred rods, striking the bridge of the Sullivan Railroad. Three of the four spans of this bridge, nearly 400 feet in length, were instantly taken off the abutments and carried down the river. Part of the toll-bridge lodged on the island. About four o'clock on Sunday afternoon, part of the railroad bridge passed Brattleboro, having gone over fifty miles in little over ten hours. This bridge was about 600 feet in length, and the span next to the west shore is still standing. It is stated that when the ruins reached Bellows Falls, one span still stood upright, with track undisturbed, and the water-casks put there for use in case of fire full, as if the bridge had not been moved; the ruins moved about five miles an hour." The current structure was built as a toll bridge by James Tasker and Bela Fletcher. Tasker, who was an intuitive engineer who could not read or write, directed the work. He used an adaptation of the Town lattice truss, substituting six-by-eight inch timbers for the usual planks in the lattices. It was framed on a nearby meadow northwest of the site and later moved to its proper location. Construction took about seven months and the bridge was opened to traffic probably in late October or early November of 1866. The roof was covered originally with wood shingles, which were replaced with the metal sheeting in 1924. The east abutment was built originally of irregular stone blocks; it was faced with concrete in 1921 after it had begun to settle. In 1935, the New Hampshire General Court authorized funds to purchase the bridge. The structure was purchased by the state in 1936 and operated it as a toll bridge until June 1, 1943. After renovation by the state in 1954, the Cornish Windsor Bridge suffered damage from flood water and ice in 1977. It was repaired again by the state for $25,000. Because of its deteriorated condition, it was closed to traffic on July 2, 1987. The bridge was reconstructed by the state in 1989 at a cost of $4,450,000 and was opened to traffic on December 8, 1989. This is the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world. The American Society of Civil Engineers designated it as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1970. The Cornish-Windsor Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 19, 1978.

Sources:
Marshall, Richard G.. New Hampshire Covered Bridges : A Link With Our Past, 1994, page 39
Vermont Journal (Windsor), March 3, 1866.
Dana, Richard T.; The Bridge at Windsor, Vermont and Its Economic Implications (New York: Codex Book Co., 1926), page 60
National Society For the Preservation of Covered Bridges. Covered Bridge Topics, Volume XV, No. 2, July 1957, page 3
Conwill, Joseph D.. Images of America - Vermont Covered Bridges, 2004, page 65
National Society for the Preservation of Covered Bridges. World Guide to Covered Bridges, 2021, page 154

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