Bridge Street Bridge, Spanning Little French Creek at Bridge Street, Union City, Erie County, PA

Significance: The Bridge Street Bridge over Little French Creek in Union City is a Through Pratt Truss metal bridge. It crosses Little French Creek immediately below a dam and mill pond that provided water power to a series of grist, saw, and flour mills that occupied the banks of the creek below the bridge. Torrential rains in early June 1892 caused flooding that washed out Clark's Dam and the bridge there, and damaged the Main and High Street bridges farther downstream. Still saddled with heavy debts from replacing the other two bridges and other civic improvements, Union City let a contract for a new bridge at Bridge Street for a bid cost of $2,562 in 1897, by which time the mill site had passed its economic peak. After 1900, Clark's Mill declined in economic vitality; it failed in the 1929 crash and was sold at a sheriff's sale in 1936. The reduced importance of Bridge Street and its bridge is reflected in the failure of the borough to pave the street until the 1950s. Repaired several times, the bridge continues to deteriorate and must be replaced. With its disappearance, Union City will lose another nostalgic reminder of a vital period in its history.
Survey number: HAER PA-91
Building/structure dates: 1897 Initial Construction