Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)
listed on the NRHP in Venango County
The Jersey Bridge is a one-lane, Pratt through truss bridge that spans Oil Creek in Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania. It connects the city of Titusville to the Drake Well Museum and Oil Creek State Park. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was replaced in 1998 with a newer bridge that used the superstructure of the old bridge.
History
The Jersey Bridge was constructed in 1882 by the Morse Bridge Company, the predecessor to American Bridge Company.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) instituted a 10 short tons (9.1 t) weight limit for the bridge due to its deteriorating condition in 1979. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1988. The bridge was replaced in 1997 to meet safety requirements from PennDOT, as well as to allow tour buses heading to the nearby Drake Well Museum.
The replacement of the bridge, on the only route to and from museum, forced the museum to close on November 2, 1997. The museum was able to reopen in April 1998 after an agreement with the Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad, which operates a train station at the museum, to transport tourists from Titusville to Drake Well.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)” is listed on the NRHP in Venango County. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Jersey, Bridge and Cherrytree, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “listed on the NRHP in Venango County” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1687906. Authority coordinates are 41.615, -79.657. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1988, 1998, 1882 and 1979.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania) primary sources, Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania) archive and Jersey research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jersey Bridge (Cherrytree Township, Pennsylvania)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.