Why Save O.S.R. Bridge?
2021 Bridgehunter Awards Winner- Endangered Truss Award
2021 Bridgehunter Awards Winner- Bridge Tour USA Award
~The Bridgehunter Chronicles (See Link Below)
2021 Bridgehunter Awards Results
The Historic Bridges of Keeseville, New York
OWNED BY: CLINTON COUNTY (Mace Chasm Rd / Old State Road- Keeseville, NY)
Update: 4/14/2021- Clinton County Legislature Approves Resolution #243 to apply for a grant to do a Historical Structure Report on the Old State Bridge. We should find out in July if the grant was awarded. (Thank You Clinton County)
-Built in 1890
-Very Rare / Experimental Design – Double Span Continuous Pony Pratt Truss Bridge
-Three Remaining bridges of this type in the world. (none sit at the top of a waterfall near a large tourist attraction other than the Old State Road Bridge
-Located at Ausable Chasm (Two Mile Long Canyon / Tourist Attraction)
-Built By Groton Bridge Company
-National Registry of Historic Places
-Civil Engineering Landmark
-One of the best views in Upstate New York
-Will support local businesses on the Mace Chasm Road
-NYSEG has refurbished the Dam at Ausable Chasm making it a highlight for tourism
-Bridge can be restored, and reopened to traffic according to engineers from across the country.
-Massive Community Support
-Massive Local Business Support
-Town Boards both passed Resolutions in Support
-Massive Support from both Clinton and Essex County Residents
-Support from Historical Societies all across upstate NY
-Well known by Civil Engineers all across the Country
Photo Credit: Sara Perkett. Seen here is four men doing repairs on the O.S.R Bridge circa 1900. From left to right (Pascal Perkett, unknown, Michael Sullivan, John Sullivan). Michael was the town of Chesterfield highway superintendent in 1900. Died in 1906. His son John took over the position and was known for the first paved roads in Clinton County.
Visit the Old State Road Bridge: (Mace Chasm Rd / Old State Road)
Help Us Save Keeseville’s Historic Bridges
Mace Chasm Rd- Keeseville, NY (Ausable Chasm)
For More Info: https://keesevillehistoricbridges.com/info/
https://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=newyork/oldstate/
Old State Road Bridge History (Information Collected by Sean Reines)
Old State Road through Ausable Chasm community (formerly known as Adgate Falls and Birmingham Falls)
The “Old State Road” intersects with Route 9 at the southern end of the tiny hamlet of Ausable Chasm (pronounced Aw-say-bull Kaz-‘m), a short distance from where the big Route 9 Ausable Chasm Bridge crosses the natural feature of the same name (the two-mile long narrow steep walled canyon of the Ausable River).
Old State Road is the main street through the settlement of Ausable Chasm, a once thriving 19th century industrial community first known as “Adgate Falls” (for Matthew Adgate, who founded it in 1792) and later, “Birmingham Falls” (starting in 1824 when citizens decided to change the name). As the horse-drawn carriage and stagecoach gave way to the automobile at the dawn of the 20th century, present-day Old State Road became “Route 9” and crossed Ausable Chasm via the still existing single lane iron bridge known locally as the “Old State Road Bridge.” Completion of the large Ausable Chasm Bridge just south of here in 1934 re-routed Route 9 across that large span, and Old State Road (and its small bridge) became a secondary road.
Old State Road’s origins can be traced to the early 1790s when it was built by New York State as part of the “Old State Post Road” that linked Plattsburgh, Ausable Chasm, Keeseville, Willsboro, Elizabethtown, Schroon Lake, and other communities. In the 1810s, the route of Old State Road between Ausable Chasm and Plattsburgh was changed so that its new course would cross the Chasm at the same place where Old State Road now crosses, just upstream from 70 foot high Rainbow Falls. The highway’s course was changed to serve the emerging Ausable Chasm industrial community growing around the falls, a community known then as Adgate Falls.
During the rest of the 19th century, Old State Road crossed the Chasm via a succession of single lane wooden bridges at the same site as the present iron bridge. Each wooden span deteriorated over time from spray and mist from the falls (no “pressure treated” lumber back then!). Hence the eventual decision to build the more permanent iron bridge sometime between 1890 and 1900.
