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Walpole or Village, Windham County

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Inventory Number: VT/45-13-70x / NH-03-25x
County: Windham County / Cheshire County
Township: Westminster - Walpole
Town/Village: Westminster Station - Walpole
Bridge Name: Walpole or Village
Crosses: Connecticut River
Truss type: Town
Spans: 3
Length: 464'
Roadway Width:
Built: 1870
Builder:
When Lost: 01 Apr 1910
Cause: Arson
Latitude: N43 05.06
Longitude: W072 25.99
See a map of the area
Topographic map of the area
Directions: NH123 at Westminster Station.

Walpole or Village Bridge, Walpole, NH to Westminster, VT. Built 1870 Lost to arson April 10, 1910
Todd Clark Collection

Walpole or Village Bridge, Walpole, NH to Westminster, VT. Built 1870 Lost to arson April 10, 1910
Richard E. Roy Collection

Comments:
The toll bridge over the Connecticut River at this site was wrecked when the span on the Vermont end washed away during the March 17, 1868 and October 20, 1869 freshets. The toll company sold out to the two towns. Vermont paid one third and New Hampshire two-thirds of the cost to rebuild the bridge. It was reopened in the fall of 1870 as a free bridge. The rebuilt span was slightly smaller than the other two. Per the Herald and News (Randolph), April 7, 1910, "The long covered wooden bridge spanning the Connecticut river between Westminster Vt., and Walpole, N.H., was burned Friday evening [April 1, 1910]. The bridge was the longest structure of this kind in New England, one of the historic landmarks. A colored man was seen going into the bridge just before the fire. Nobody saw him come out and it is feared that he perished. The bridge was owned by the two towns and will be replaced by a new iron structure. The bridge was valued at $15,000."

Sources:
Herald and News (Randolph), April 7, 1910.
Collins, Anne L, Virginia Lisai, and Louise Luring; Around Bellows Falls, Arcadia Publishing, 2002, page 82
Allen, Richard S. & Morse Victor. Windham County's Famous Covered Bridges, 1960, page 41
Connecticut River Valley Covered Bridge Society. Bulletin, Volume X, No. 1 (Summer 1963), page 3