Credit: Courtesy of the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
To transport anthracite coal from Schuylkill County to Philadelphia, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad needed bridges stronger and more durable than could be built from wood. In 1845 the Railroad erected the nation's first iron railroad bridge over a small creek west of Manayunk. Designed by Richard B. Osborne, the 34-ft span, iron truss bridge remained in service until 1901. This dismantled section of the bridge is now on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C.
