or Location: Clement Street
Follow Massachusetts Historical Commission Survey Manual instructions for completing this form. 3/10
FORM F − STRUCTURE
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION
MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES BUILDING
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Photograph
Locus Map
Recorded by: Bonnie Parsons
Organization: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
Date (month / year): December, 2011
Assessor’s Number USGS Quad Area(s) Form Number
30A-A Easthampton NTH.909
Town/City: Northampton
Place (neighborhood or village): Leeds
Address or Location: Clement Street
Name: Clement Street Bridge
Ownership: Public Private
Type of Structure (check one):
___ boat or ship
___ canal
___ carousel
___ dam
___ fort
___ gate
___ kiln
___ lighthouse
___ pound
___ powderhouse
___ street
___ tower
___ tunnel
___ wall
___ windmill
_x__other (specify) bridge
Date of Construction: 1894
Source: atlases
Architect, Engineer or Designer:
Materials: iron
Alterations (with dates):
Condition: good
Moved: no yes Date:
Acreage: under one acre
Setting: This bridge is in a mixed neighborhood of mills
and houses.
INVENTORY FORM F CONTINUATION SHEET TOWN Clement Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 1
NTH.909
Recommended for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
If checked, you must attach a completed National Register Criteria Statement form.
Use as much space as necessary to complete the following entries, allowing text to flow onto additional continuation sheets.
DESIGN ASSESSMENT
Describe important design features and evaluate in terms of other structures within the community.
The Clement Street Bridge is an iron, single-span, through-truss bridge approximately 45 feet long, 15 feet wide and twenty feet
high. It is composed of two angled portals with curved corner braces. Four parallel cords of latticed, upright posts connected by
a latticed strut and arched braces are arranged across the bridge. In the bays created by the four chords are cross-bracing
cables. The combination of chords and cables support the iron bridge floor and a pedestrian walkway on the east side of the
bridge suspended over the Mill River below.
The bridge was rehabilitated in 1923, closed in 2007, and reopened by 2010.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Explain the history of the structure and how it relates to the development of the community.
From the Form B of 1980, “This bridge, constructed between 1884 and 1895 is the only crossing of the Mill River between
Florence and the West Street bridge south of Smith College. The Bay State section of Northampton had been developed in the
early 1840s as a small industrial community on the eastern banks of the Mill River, and was linked to the rest of the town by
Riverside Drive, which was also on the eastern side of the river. The bridge made travel between the industrial village and the
fine farm and meadow land on the eastern side of the river easier.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
1884 and 1895 atlases
DeLony, Eric. Landmark American Bridges, Historic American Engineering Record, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1993.
INVENTORY FORM F CONTINUATION SHEET TOWN Clement Street
MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION Area(s) Form No.
220 MORRISSEY BOULEVARD, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02125
Continuation sheet 2
NTH.909
National Register of Historic Places Criteria Statement Form
Check all that apply:
Individually eligible Eligible only in an historic district
Contributing to a potential historic district Potential historic district
Criteria: A B C D
Criteria Considerations: A B C D E F G
Statement of Significance by _____Bonnie Parsons___________________
The criteria that are checked in the above sections must be justified here.
The Clement Street Bridge would contribute to a potential Bay State Village Historic District. As part of a Bay State
neighborhood of workers’ housing and the Clement Cutlery Factory, the bridge has allowed the industrial area to
function by providing the only crossing of the Mill River in this area. It is significant as an example of a typical iron
through-truss bridge from the turn-of-the-century.