The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-18
FIRST RAILROAD BRIDGE
BUILDER OF STR UCTURE IN H4RT-
 FORD NoW LIVING.


 Horace Chtlds at Ninety-Two Years
 Story of the First Bridge Construc
 ton in Hartford md Model of th. Work Preserved.
 The oldest railroad bridge maker in the United States, MT. Horace Childs
 who constructed the original bridge of
 the New Haven, Hartford and Spring
 Held road in Hartford, in 1889, sixty
 years ago, is now living in the town of
 Henniker, N. H., at the age of ninety
 two years. He is the puncle by mar riage of the Hartford dentist, pr. l.. c. Taylor. His wife who died one year ago last August, Matilda Rowena Tay- Tor Childs, was the sister of Erastus Day Taylor, the father of Dr. Taylor | MT. Childs, who is now so far ad- vanced in years, was the builder of the first bridge made by the Hartford and New Haven road in this city, connecting i with the first depot here, which was To- oated near the spot where the Mulber- ry street bridge now stands. The de- pot was wooden building, having the waiting rooms on the east bank of the Park river. The tracks of the company came into the city north of the present machine shops of the Consolidated road crossing the Park river in the neighbor- hood of the old Inlay mills. They ex- tended across what is now Bushnell Park to the depot, passing the sites m fad hxyt tho Jo,1ty, yalJc statues. The roadway was on trestle work used for the Bushnell Park pond This was afterwards filled in making an earth embankment. Years ago, while improvements were in progress in the park, remnants of the old trestle work and track were found, occasioning a spectacle of considerable interest.
 The structure made by MT. Childs was heavy bridge of one span carry ing three tracks, and the depot was built partly on the bridge. Most of the timber for the bridge between New Haven and Hartford was cut in Haver- hill, N. H., and run down the river to Olcutt's Falls below Hanover. There it was sawed and then rafter down the river through several sets of locks to Hartford. Some of this timber went down to the salt water, and was then lowed to NeW Haven. During a part of his life this old time bridge builder was identified with his brother, Enoch l.. Childs, who was also builder of wide reputation in his day. In 1886 Mr. Horace Childs built all the bridges on the Providence and Worcester railroad; on the North ern New Hampshire from Franklin to White River Junction and afterwards on the New York and Erie and the New Hampshire Central The quality of his early work is shown In the fact that the last of the original bridges on the Northern New Hampshire road was replaced by an iron one about five years ago, and was then sound and strong, although hourly carrying loads of three times the weight 1t was orig inally intended for.
 One of the men who worked for MT. Childs on the Mulberry street bridge of the railroad company. MT. Obediah Wilson, is still living in Henniker, N H. He Is also far advanced in life. The father of Dr. Taylor of this city, MT. Erastus Day Taylor, whose death occurred a number of years ago, was the foreman of the work connected with the bridge in this city.
 The models for the ancient wooden bridges on the road are still in exist ence. But there were no drawings of bridges in the first days of New Eng land railroading The first model was of bridge constructed wholly of wood. The pine holding the heavy construc- tion timbers together were also of wood This is the model of the orig inal bridge over the Park River, where the ancient depot was built. The sec pnd step was the construction of bridges with iron rods in use, the rods running in parellel lines with the braces The model of this style of bridge Is extremely interesting The iron rods are headed and fastened with nuts, giving an exact fac-simile | of what the bridge was after it's com pleton. There was a third type of | bridge shown by the Childs models. | This no doubt was suggestion of the l Howe truss bridge. The iron rods cross at angles, and the tlmbers are In the Howe truss the | ron rods are perpendicular and the .imbers cross at angles, reversing the wood and iron work in the Chids mod I. The old models are exceptionally interesting, the Hartford model, being he one in which the construction tim ,ers are held in place by wooden pins, 8 the most intersting one here. It is nore than sixty years since it was made. In the archives of the New York, New Haven and Hartford road here are no plans of the original bridges on the line. It was not until ears after the beginning of railroad obstruction that drawings and models were made and kept.
 MT. Horace Childs, the aged bridge uilder, is living with his nephew, MT. 'urtis B. Childs, in Henniker, N. H. Hartford Times.
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