Patch Street Bridge, Spanning Kohanza Brook on Patch Street, Danbury, Fairfield County, CT
Summary
Significance: The single arch stone Patch Street Bridge was a typical example of an increasingly rare class of municipally-built structure in Connecticut, and was the best preserved and perhaps most unusual such bridge built in Danbury during the generation of response to a disastrous flood. Stone bridge durability had widespread late-19th century appeal at heavily-trafficked or flood-prone crossings. The 1869 flood in Kohanza Brook, which destroyed or damaged a number of bridges including an earlier wood crossing at Patch Street, made the town especially sensitive to new crossings over this brook, and led to a partially successful policy of replacing local wood bridges in stone c1880-1900. This period was locally transitional between predominantly wood bridges and steel or concrete crossings. Most of the local stone bridges built in this period were double arched, an often less expensive alternative, and all three surviving bridges at West, North, and Crosby streets take this form. The narrow stream bed at Patch Street probably precluded this option, and the town voted for a single arch structure built by an aging but prominent local stonemason. Peter Rowan's single arch was unique among Danbury stone bridges surviving World War II, and his span of over 32 feet was perhaps one of the largest such municipal structures in the State.
Survey number: HAER CT-30
Building/structure dates: 1885 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1986 Demolished
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