Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge
Historic truss bridge in Savage, Maryland. Built 1869. Added to the National Register in 1972, and a National Historic Landmark.
What it is
The Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge across the Little Patuxent River at Savage, Maryland, is one of the oldest standing iron railroad bridges in the United States and the sole surviving example of a revolutionary design in the history of American bridge engineering. The 160-foot (48.8 m) double-span was built in 1852 at an unknown location on the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It was moved 35 years later to its present location, where it replaced the very first Bollman bridge. Today, it carries the Savage Mill Trail.
Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The record
| Property type | Structure |
| Address | Spanning Little Patuxent River near the jct. of Goman Rd. and Foundry St., Savage, MD |
| County | Howard County |
| Listed | Oct 18, 1972 |
| Listed for | Engineering, Transportation |
| Level of significance | State |
| Reference number | 72000582 |
| Built | 1869 · more from the 1860s |
| Type of place | truss bridge, steel bridge, railway bridge |
| Designations | National Historic Landmark, Historic Civil Engineering Landmark |
| Contributing resources | 1 structure |
The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗
Visiting
| Address | Spanning Little Patuxent River near the jct. of Goman Rd. and Foundry St., Savage, MD |
| Coordinates | 39.1349° N, 76.8251° W · Directions ↗ |
| Nearest national park unit | Baltimore-Washington Parkway · 8 miles · on Park Atlas |
| Federal campgrounds nearby | Greenbelt Campground 11 miles · Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas 11 miles · Greenbelt Park Ranger Station 11 miles |
Explore
Map
Nearby in Howard County
Public land around it
| Patuxent Research Refuge ↗National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | About 3 miles away12,952 acres |
Wilderness Atlas publishes a centroid and an acreage for each unit, not a boundary line. Distance here is measured to a circle of the same area drawn around that centroid, so treat it as roughly right rather than surveyed.
Local history books for Howard County
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Guidebooks to historic places in Maryland
Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.
Reference
Questions people ask
When was Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge listed on the National Register?
Oct 18, 1972. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.
Source: National Park Service
When was Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge built?
1869.
Source: Wikidata
Where is Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge?
Spanning Little Patuxent River near the jct. of Goman Rd. and Foundry St., Savage, Howard County, Maryland. The nearest national park unit is Baltimore-Washington Parkway, 8 miles away.
Source: Baltimore-Washington Parkway
Where is the nomination form for Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge?
The National Archives holds the nomination form, the document that made the case for listing.
Source: National Archives
Are there campgrounds near Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge?
Three federal campgrounds are within reach. The closest is Greenbelt Campground, 11 miles away. Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas is 11 miles away, and Greenbelt Park Ranger Station is 11 miles away.
Source: Campsite Atlas
Is there cell service at Bollman Suspension and Trussed Bridge?
FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 5G, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.
Source: FCC Broadband Map
Sources
Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 72000582. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.