Louisville Bridge and Iron Company Architectural Drawings, 1866-1926
Held by the Filson Historical Society
Creator: Louisville Bridge and Iron Company
Title: Architectural drawings, 1866-1926
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these photographs, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 4 ovsz. folders
Location Number: Mss. AR L888b
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains architectural drawings of projects produced and associated with Louisville Bridge and Iron Company. The first half of the collection (folders 1 and 2) focuses on some of their bridge designs for the Ohio Valley area from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The early work dated closer to their founding features Fink’s patented design for iron trusses to support the bridge spans. The last half of the collection (folders 3 and 4) features miscellaneous works that Louisville Bridge and Iron Company contributed to. Folder 3 is mostly industrial factories and train depots, where the company’s role primarily relates to the structural frameworks. The company’s role in Folder 4 is also ambiguous, but it can be assumed that they worked on the structural elements and supplied steel and iron for the projects. The collection gives good insight into how the Louisville Bridge and Iron Company changed from the mid-1860s to the early-1920s from a company known for its bridge and railway work to one of Louisville’s suppliers of steel for buildings of all different scales and functions.
See the project index for more information.
Related Collections:
Louisville Bridge & Iron Company photograph collection (989PC44)
Historical Note
The Louisville Bridge and Iron Company was founded in June 1865, originally as Louisville Industrial Works, by a group of L&N railmen, including Albert Fink, A.P. Cochran, E. Benjamin, Gilman Trafton, George Ainslie, and James W. Ainslie. Of these, Fink served as the company’s first president and is known for his patent of the Fink iron suspension truss. This patent was used in the construction of the Louisville Bridge, also known as the Fourteenth Street Bridge, boasting the title of longest bridge in the world at its completion in 1870 with a total length of 5,250 feet.
Besides the Louisville Bridge, other notable works include the K & I Terminal Railroad Bridge, Clay’s Ferry Bridge, Cumberland River Bridge, Howard Theatre in Atlanta, and contract work with Jeffboat Company during WWII. Though they are known for their iron, the company started selling steel soon after their founding with their first handwritten steel order dated to 1872. The company slowly transitioned from having blacksmiths, machine shops and forges in the mid to late 1800s to modern production equipment for steel in the mid to late 1900s.
The Louisville Bridge and Iron Company was closed in 1987 after 122 years of iron and steel work in Kentucky and the Ohio Valley. Their most notable work in Louisville, the Fourteenth Street Bridge, still stands atop the Falls of the Ohio after being rebuilt in the early 1900s, leaving their legacy on the Louisville skyline.
Sources:
https://archivescatalog.library.louisville.edu/resources/louisville-bridge-iron
THE LOUISVILLE BRIDGE AND IRON COMPANY. (1866/11/27/, 1866 Nov 27). Daily Courier (1851-1868)
Ohio river bridge. (1868/09/18/, 1868 Sep 18). The Louisville Daily Journal (1839-1868)
Folder List
Folder 1:
- Big Black River Bridge, 1866
- Clays Ferry Bridge, 1868
- Fink’s Suspension Truss (Design for Louisville Cincinnati & Lexington Railroad Company), 1868
- General Plan Fink’s Suspension Truss (Design for Houston & Texas Central Railway Company), 1869
- Fink’s Triangular Truss/ Green River Bridge Details, 1870
- Design for Bridge over Beargrass Creek, 1869-1873
Folder 2:
- General Plan of Bellow’s Creek Bridge, n.d.
- General Plan of 14 Panel Combination Bridge, n.d.
- General Plan of Wrought Iron Bridge Proposed for Corydon, 1876
- Proposed Endpost for Pipe Railing, 1888
- Breckinridge Street Trestle, 1888
- Louisville and Portland Canal. Iron Draw Bridge at New Locks, 1893
- Bridge over Beargrass Creek, 1900
Folder 3:
- F. S. (Full Scale) Detail of a Grille for Front Door Chas T. Ballard’s Residence, 1911
- Union Passenger Depot Train Shed, 1898
- Louisville Railway Company Power Station (Campbell and Jacob), 1889-1902
- Iron & Brass Foundry L&N RR Co., 1902-1903
- Coach/Paint Shop L&N RR Co., 1902
- Block of Store Buildings – Speed Realty Company, 1916
- Steel Sash Layout Enameling Plant for Standard Sanitary MFG Company, 1921
- Garage for Jefferson County, KY, n.d.
Folder 4:
- Louisville Sanitary Market, n.d.
- Residence for Mr. Chas. J. Bornwasser, 1926
- Mammoth Realty Co. Theater and Apartment Building, 1924
- Parkland Masonic Temple/Parkland Lodge, 1923
- Design of Deck Plate Girder, 1920
