Fosnaugh Truss Leg Bedstead Bridge, Spanning Scippo Creek at Township Route 128, Stoutsville, Fairfield County, OH

Significance: The Fosnaugh Truss leg Bedstead Bridge was built by the Hocking Valley Bridge Works (HVBW) of Lancaster, Ohio in 1891. HVBW was a small firm founded by Augustus Borneman in 1881. This bridge is almost identical to Borneman's 1879 patent for an improved truss bridge. After the Ashtabula bridge disaster in 1876, where a large, cast-and-wrought iron Howe Truss failed under the weight of a locomotive, questions were raised regarding the durability of composite cast and wrought iron bridges. Thus, patents received by Ohioans tended to be for small span bridges for country highways, and often for construction in wood, or wood and metal, in addition to improvements to all metal constructed bridges. The Fosnaugh bridge then, is typical of the kind of design produced and built during this period in that it sought to improve on metal bridge designs. Specifically, the Fosnaugh bridge's improved design concentrated on protection of the major connecting points. The bridge is listed as a "selected bridge" in the Ohio Department of Transportation's Ohio Historic Bridge Inventory Evaluation and Preservation Plan.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-5
Survey number: HAER OH-43
Building/structure dates: 1891 Initial Construction