4 Lesser-Known Stone Bridges of Kansas

This list of lesser-known bridges in Kansas is composed of bridges that are not well documented for various reasons. Some of them are off-road while others, even though they are actually on the roadway, have largely escaped the public eye — an easy occurrence if they are not on the national bridge inventory or are […]

Record Bridges of Cowley Kansas

Cowley County is known as the stone arch bridge capital of Kansas. While something of a latecomer to the stone arch bridge building trend of this part of the state, Cowley quickly rose to become famous for its stone arch bridges. Shortly after the county built a stone arch bridge over Timber Creek, they undertook […]

Otter Creek Bridge

The North Branch Otter Creek Bridge in Greenwood County, Kansas, is a well-known, triple-arch stone bridge listed on the National Register of Historical Places. It was built by pioneer bridge builder Walter Sharp, as shown by the plaque. Walter Sharp is renowned for being the foremost builder of the famous Cowley County stone arch bridges. […]

Stone Arch Bridges of Kansas

Kansas has a large number of stone arch bridges and culverts — reasonable estimates put the number at over 200 such structures across the state. The choice was natural enough; stone is plentiful and readily available in Kansas, and, particularly in western Kansas, stone was just about the only building material available. So much so, […]

How Arch Bridges Are Built

Possibly one of the more mystifying elements of stone arch bridges is the manner by which they are constructed. While it may be easy enough to see that the arch stands because of every stone pushing against its neighbor, the obvious question is, “How do the stones stay in place before they are all stacked […]

Stone Arch Bridges: The Concept Explained

Stone arches have long been used for spanning gaps throughout the world. Their permanence has been testified to and evidenced by the surprising number of Roman and Medieval stone arch bridges still in use. But how do these bridges work? How do you span a gap with stone? The Slab Method The simple and most […]