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ALDRICH CHANGE BRIDGE
Project Coordinator: Jay Harding
Project Completed: September 2003
Project Budget: $210,000 (HUD)
In January 1997, after months of preparation, a
dedicated group of volunteers made a dramatic rescue from a
farm stream in Macedon, NY. The bridge they saved, the
Aldrich Change Bridge, was the only surviving canal
change bridge and the oldest cast and |
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wrought-iron vehicular bridge in New York State--and
possibly the United States. This unique historic artifact,
built in 1858 and located in Rochester before being moved to
the Macedon-Palmyra line in 1880, was restored and installed
near its original location on the Towpath Trail in Aqueduct
Park. Visitors can now walk or bike up and over the bridge
in just the same way the mules and horses did over 100 years
ago, as they made their way from the south to the north side
of the Canal.
Eric DeLony, Chief of the Historic American
Engineering Record of the National Park Service documented the bridge
for a record in the Library of Congress. At a visit to view the bridge
during restoration, he said,
"This is the most important ongoing bridge restoration project in the country."
View a gallery of project
photographs.
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