North Village Bridge, Spanning French River on North Main Street, Webster, Worcester County, MA

Significance: The North Village Bridge is one of only five known surviving Parker patent trusses in the United States, and the second oldest of the three located in Massachusetts. The bridge was built by the National Bridge & Iron Works of Boston, a significant late-nineteenth century bridge-building company, for which Parker was Chief Engineer. The bridge's design was particularly innovative in achieving the economies of material inherent in the curved top chord, yet lending itself to mass-production by the standardization of panel dimensions. The truss length could be adjusted by alterations to the end panels alone. The design could be mass-produced, and applied speedily and cheaply to pre-existing crossings.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-18
Survey number: HAER MA-99
Building/structure dates: 1871 Initial Construction