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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Parkersburg Bridge (CSX)

Bridge in Parkersburg, West Virginia

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

The Parkersburg Bridge crosses the Ohio River between Parkersburg, West Virginia, and Belpre, Ohio. Designed by Jacob Linville, the bridge has 46 spans: 25 deck plate girder, 14 deck truss, 6 through truss, and 1 through plate girder. 50,000 cubic yards (38,000 m3) of stone were used for the 53 piers. The bridge was constructed from May 1869 to January 1871 by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At the time of its completion, the bridge was reportedly the longest in the world at 7,140 feet (2,180 m).

Editorial summary

“Parkersburg Bridge (CSX)” enters the record as bridge in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Parkersburg, Bridge and West can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1869, 1871—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Parkersburg, Bridge and West.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Parkersburg Bridge (CSX)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Parkersburg, Bridge and West provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

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 1, 2026. The first chronological checks are 1869 and 1871.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. 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.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Parkersburg Bridge (CSX)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Parkersburg Bridge (CSX) primary sources, Parkersburg Bridge (CSX) archive and Parkersburg research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Parkersburg Bridge (CSX)”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Parkersburg Bridge (CSX)” 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.