Granby Living Mar2018

THIS MONTH
IN GRANBY HISTORY
BY KEN KUHL
GRANBY
March 1833 — At an adjourned Town Meeting
holden at the Episcopal Church House the first
Monday of March 1833. Voted to lay a Tax of
nine Cents on the dollar on the list 1832 to defray
expenses of the Town building bridges etc.
By the 1830s the most popular bridge being
built in New England was the venerable covered
bridge. While records do not describe the
type of construction for this bridge in Granby, it
would likely have been a covered bridge.
In the 18th century, bridges were initially just
two logs that spanned across small streams and
brooks. These structures were, however temporary,
because they had a lifespan of only 10 to 15
years before of the effects of rain and sun rotted
them. At this time traveling across large brooks
and rivers was accomplished by use of a ferry
boat like the famous Bissell Ferry in Windsor,
Connecticut.
However, in 1785 Enoch Hale built a bridge
over the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls,
Vermont. This bridge was the first American
structure that spanned 365 feet with the newly
engineered strengthened stringer type. Although
this was a revolutionary breakthrough,
it did require open joints made of post, beams
and pegs which were still subject to decay due to
exposure to the weather.
Variations of this new type of bridge called for
the joints to be covered or boxed in with pine
or an absorbent wood to protect them from
deterioration. A 1782 bridge erected in Riverton,
Connecticut, was an improvement; the
pine boards that covered the oak timbers were
slanted toward the outside to take the rain away.
While this extended the life of the structure, it
was later entirely covered with a barn-like enclosure,
and the covered bridge was born.
A covered bridge is a timber-truss structure
with a roof, siding and windows which, in
most covered bridges, create an almost complete
enclosure. Bridges had covers for reasons other
than protecting wood trusses, such as for protecting
pedestrians and keeping horses from
shying away from loud rushing water.
Early timber-framed covered bridges consisted
of horizontal beams laid on top of piles driven
into the riverbed below. However, this construction
method meant that the length between
bridge spans was limited by the maximum length
of each beam. The development of the timber
truss circumvented that limitation and allowed
bridges to span greater distances than those with
beam-only structures or arch structures, whether
of stone, masonry or timber.
At least two covered bridges make the claim
of being the first built in the United States. Town
records for Swanzey, New Hampshire, indicate
their Carleton Bridge was built in 1789, but this
remains unverified. Meanwhile, a patent was issued
in 1797 to Philadelphia artist and inventor
Charles W. Peale (the famous painter of
George Washington at the Battle of Princeton).
His bridge was erected over the Schuylkill River
in 1804. By the mid-1800s, the development of
cheaper wrought iron and cast iron led to metal
rather than timber trusses, except in areas like
Granby where there remained a plentiful supply
of large timber.
CONNECTICUT
March 2, 1833 — Prudence Crandall runs an ad
in The Liberator magazine, offering equal access
to black girls at her private boarding school in
Canterbury, Connecticut.
UNITED STATES
March 2, 1833 — President Andrew Jackson
signs the Force Bill, which authorizes him
to use troops to enforce federal law in South
Carolina. War.
WORLD
March 20, 1833 — The Roberts Treaty of 1833
was the first treaty between the United States
and Siam, an Asian nation.
Ken Kuhl is a board member of the Salmon Brook
Historical Society in Granby.
CELEBRATING
ST PADDY’S DAY
ALL MONTH!
LIVE MUSIC MOST WEEKENDS!
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complete schedule & special events.
Lunch: Tues, Wed, & Sun 11:30am-4pm | Dinner till 9pm
860-653-2739
357 Salmon Brook St., Granby CT
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Lunch: Thur, Fri & Sat 11:30am-4pm | Dinner til 10pm
GRANBY LIVING | 9