RittenhouseTown Joins Project Keystone

Featured from The Papermaker, the Newsletter of Historic RittenhouseTown
Volume 17, Number 2

Throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are almost countless numbers of historic structures including mills, churches, homes, inns and barns. However, it is often forgotten that bridges also fall under this category and many are in urgent need of stabilization and preservation.

Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, or PennDot, announced the formation of Project Keystone to study all of the stone arch bridges around the Commonwealth and rank them (using preselected categories, such as condition, year constructed, importance to present day transportation, and their historical background). The top two-thirds of the ranked bridges will survive while the bottom third will be eventually tagged for destruction. To begin the enormous study, the five-county region around Philadelphia, with its 126 stone arch bridges, has been selected. Our Executive Director, Andrew Zellers-Frederick, has been selected to serve as a Consulting Party for Project Keystone which will be coordinated by the engineering and environmental consulting firm of Skelly and Loy.

Over the course of the next several months, the general public will be invited to a series of meetings to discuss this project and the individual bridges studies within their respective areas. Historic RittenhouseTown is fortunate that the current number one rated bridge, which is sure to receive preservation funds, is the 1896 Forbidden Drive Bridge, or as it is popularly known as the Blue Stone or the Lotus Inn Bridge, over the Wissahickon Creek at the southern end of the RittenhouseTown National Historic Landmark District. Originally, several buildings of RittenhouseTown stood by this popular bridge which is crossed by hundreds of people each day as they stroll, run or cycle through the Wissahickon Valley of Fairmount Park. Watch for additional information on this project in future editions of the newsletter, or to learn about the other 125 stone arch bridges, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Project Keystone Web Site at www.pastonearch.org.

The Papermaker is the quarterly newsletter of Historic RittenhouseTown and is sent to all members.