Laughery Creek Bridge

The Laughery Creek Bridge is the only known example of a triple Whipple truss bridge; it is located on the border of Dearborn County, Indiana, and Ohio County, Indiana. It crosses Laughery Creek. This bridge was built in 1868. The Wrought Iron Bridge Company, a prolific late 19th-century bridge company, constructed the bridge. The bridge is seated on stone abutments. The deck surface is not original and is currently concrete. The bridge, nearly 300 feet (91 m) in length, is a single-span, pin-connected, triple-intersection Whipple through truss, and is the only example in the world of this truss type. The name bridge's nickname, "Triple Whipple Bridge" is a play on words. The double-intersection Pratt, which was called the Whipple truss configuration, was a far more common variation of the standard Pratt configuration. Since the Laughery Creek Bridge's members have three intersections instead of two, this gives rise to the "Triple Whipple" name. This bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.^[2]

Laughery Creek Bridge
Laughery Creek Bridge, 1974
Coordinates	39°01′29″N 84°53′09″W
Crosses	Laughery Creek
Locale	Dearborn County, Indiana and Ohio County, Indiana
Other name(s)	Triple Whipple Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Triple-intersection Pratt truss
Total length	298.8 feet (91.1 m)
Width	17 feet (5.2 m)
Longest span	297.5 feet (90.7 m)
Clearance above	21.4 feet (6.5 m)
History
Opened	1878
Laughery Creek Bridge
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	South of Aurora west of State Road 56, Center Township, Dearborn County, Indiana
Area	less than one acre
Built	1868 (1868)
Built by	Wrought Iron Bridge Company; Green, William & Co.
Architectural style	Triple-intersection Pratt
NRHP reference No.	76000018[1]
Added to NRHP	September 29, 1976
Location

Plan of a triple whipple truss

After closing in the 1970s, the bridge fell into serious disrepair, landing it on Indiana's 10 Most Endangered places list in 1993. A combination of federal funds and matching funds from Dearborn and Ohio Counties allowed the bridge to be refurbished and converted to pedestrian use in 2009.

See also

• List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in Indiana

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
2. "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved 2015-08-01. Note: This includes Sackheirn, Donald E.; Gratiot, Alex P.; DeLony, Eric N. (March 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Laughery Creek Bridge" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-09-01. and accompanying photographs.

External links

• "Celebrating the Triple Whipple" by the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, October 30, 2009.
• "Triple Whipple Bridge" by Historic Bridges of Michigan and Elsewhere
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. IN-16, "Laughery Creek Bridge, Spanning Laughery Creek, Aurora vicinity, Dearborn County, IN", 15 photos, 6 measured drawings, 13 data pages, 1 photo caption page