The historic Jackson Street Bridge over the Assunpink Creek is a central feature of Mill Hill Park in downtown Trenton. Thanks to a New Jersey Historic Trust grant, this pin-connected, Pratt, through-truss structure, fabricated in 1888 by Trenton’s own New Jersey Steel & Iron Company (NJS&IC), is now receiving needed repairs and a paint job that should last it at least another quarter century Over the past several years, Hunter Research has assisted the City of Trenton in fulfilling the terms of the grant with tasks related to preserving and interpreting the bridge, as well as other resources in Mill Hill Park.
The Jackson Street Bridge is thought to be one of just four examples of NJS&IC truss bridges surviving in the United States. One of the other three is located on East Ward Street in Hightstown, New Jersey, and curiously the other two are in Texas. Hunter Research’s Principal Historian/Architectural Historian Patrick Harshbarger offered remarks on the bridge’s significance at a groundbreaking ceremony in September 2020. He noted how bridges like this one, designed as a kit of parts akin to a large erector set, represented a pinnacle of American ingenuity and were shipped all over the world. An interpretive sign, developed by Hunter Research, is located on a walkway near the bridge’s southern approach. It describes the role of NJS&IC in hot rolling the steel shapes, like I-beams, plates, channels and angles, which made this bridge technology possible.
