Riverside Avenue Bridge (Greenwich)
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Riverside Avenue Bridge
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Riverside Avenue Bridge, looking north
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| Location | Riverside Ave. and RR tracks, Greenwich, Connecticut |
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| Coordinates | 41°01′54″N 73°35′17″W / 41.031537°N 73.588169°WCoordinates: 41°01′54″N 73°35′17″W / 41.031537°N 73.588169°W |
| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built | 1871 |
| Architect | Francis C. Lowthrop; Keystone Bridge Co. |
| Architectural style | Pratt truss |
| NRHP Reference # | 77001391 |
| Added to NRHP | August 29, 1977 |
The Riverside Avenue Bridge is the only cast-iron bridge in Connecticut and one of a small number still in use in the United States. It carries Riverside Avenue over the New Haven Line railroad tracks in the Riverside section of Greenwich, Connecticut. The bridge was part of an earlier span built in 1871 over the Housatonic River by the New York and New Haven Railroad, and when that bridge was replaced, part of it was erected in Riverside in 1895. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Called "an important engineering landmark" by Cultural Resource Management, a periodical published by the National Park Service, the bridge carries one of the primary streets in this section of town, and is owned by the Connecticut state government.
The structure was originally part of a six-span railroad bridge built over the Housatonic in Stratford, Connecticut, by the Keystone Bridge Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Engineer F. C. Lowthorp designed that structure. The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, successor to the New York and New Haven Railroad in 1872, replaced the river bridge in 1884 and, 11 years later, erected this span again in Riverside, adjacent to the Riverside train station.
The double-intersection Pratt truss bridge is constructed of composite cast-iron and wrought-iron elements with decorative brackets and was considered both elegant and durable at the time of its construction. As locomotives increased in weight and as the weaknesses of cast-iron bridges became more apparent, the bridges were replaced. The bridge is a rare survivor from that era.
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