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18-615: The firm's principal engineer was James Barney Marsh (1856–1936), an engineer and bridge designer born in North Lake, Wisconsin. Works include: The Wilson River Bridge (1931), near Tillamook, Washington, and others like it in Washington were designed by notable architect Conde McCullough , who had been employed at Marsh Engineering Company during the 1910s. 41°35′10″N 93°37′47″W  /  41.58599°N 93.629764°W  / 41.58599; -93.629764 This article about

36-431: A civil engineering topic is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a United States architect or architectural firm is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . James Barney Marsh James Barney Marsh (April 12, 1856 – June 26, 1936) was an American engineer and bridge designer. He patented a new design for arch bridges . Marsh gave Archie Alexander ,

54-645: A Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in 1882. Within the next year, he traveled to Des Moines, Iowa , to work as a contracting agent for the King Bridge Company of Cleveland, Ohio . He married and had three children. Marsh was the representative of King Bridge Company in 1883 and the Kansas City Bridge and Iron Company in 1886. In 1889, Marsh became the western general agent for the King Bridge Company. Marsh had already had many bridges completed in Iowa, including

72-716: A reinforced concrete wagon bridge in Greene County and Melan bridge in Cedar Rapids. In the beginning of 1909, the Marsh Bridge Company was taken over by someone else, and the Marsh Engineering Company was started soon after. In May 1909, a Melan arch bridge in Peoria, Illinois collapsed and Engineering News said that the collapse was "the largest recorded failure of a reinforced-concrete bridge". The bridge collapse

90-641: A three-mile railroad structure in Sioux City and three bridges in Des Moines. His other bridges were in Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Colorado. He became an independent bridge designer and contractor in 1896, but he still had his prior contacts with bridge companies to receive materials. Within a few years after the introduction of a new type of bridge construction involving reinforced concrete , Marsh worked on applying reinforced concrete to urban bridges. In 1901, he

108-657: The R. M. Ruthven Bridge and the White River Concrete Arch Bridge , carries U.S. Route 62 Business across the White River west of the city of Cotter in Baxter County , Arkansas . Upon completion, the bridge opened a part of the Ozarks previously inaccessible to motorists. Constructed in 1930, it is the only bridge built by the Marsh Engineering Company of Des Moines, Iowa , in the state of Arkansas. Cotter

126-652: The debt. Judge R. M. Ruthven concealed a damning feasibility report from the Highway Commission, which would have resulted in the bridge being built elsewhere. Twenty years later, he allegedly mailed the report to the Commission anyway. President Calvin Coolidge signed the bridge into construction on May 2, 1928, and upon approval by the War Department, the bridge was contracted to James Barney Marsh . The bridge

144-411: The federal road U.S. Route 62 would replace Arkansas Highway 12 through the area, bridge interest reached a peak. The federal road would bring an economic boom to the tourist-themed Ozarks that had not been developed, but the funding was still not available due to Arkansas' lack of a central road authority. The state approved the use of toll bridges in 1927, as long as they became free upon payment of

162-519: The first African-American to graduate as an engineer from Iowa State University, his first job. Marsh worked in the bridge building business for over 50 years, and several of his bridges are listed in the National Register of Historic Places . Marsh was born on April 12, 1856, in North Lake, Wisconsin . He moved to Iowa sometime around 1877, later enrolling at Iowa State University , and he received

180-542: The first African-American to graduate as an engineer from the University of Iowa , his start. Alexander worked under Marsh for two years and later built his own projects nationwide. Marsh was a bridge builder for over fifty years. Several of Marsh's bridges remain and are listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Marsh died on June 26, 1936. Notable works include: All Iowa works are NRHP-listed. Cotter Bridge The Cotter Bridge , also known as

198-613: The largest rainbow arch bridge that he built was the Cotter Bridge in Arkansas , which was completed in 1930. He collaborated with other engineers to create "Minimum Specifications for Highway Bridges" for the Iowa Engineering Society, which was completed in 1914. Marsh's son, Frank E. Marsh, owned a construction company that often received the contracts for building bridges that were designed by Marsh. Marsh gave Archie Alexander ,

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216-461: The royalties, so he built his own design for a reinforced concrete highway bridge, which later became known as the Marsh Rainbow Arch. His rainbow arch bridges were designed to be built without any supporting scaffolding. On August 12, 1912, Marsh received a patent for the design. The design used less labor, and it used a lesser amount of concrete. Steel that would be used for reinforcing bridges

234-430: The toll. The Highway Department even had to threaten the community with retracted funding unless the residents began using the bridge. The Cotter Bridge was once proposed to be replaced, but area residents protested, and instead a new bridge was built north of the area. U.S. Route 62 now runs on the new bridge, where the former alignment of US 62 exists today as U.S. Route 62 Business through downtown Cotter. The bridge

252-663: Was an engineer of a Melan arch bridge in Waterloo, Iowa , which finished construction in 1903. Marsh wrote about reinforced concrete girder bridges, which were published in works by the International Engineering Congress in St. Louis in 1904. Throughout the first decade of the 1900s, Marsh built more bridges that were made out of reinforced concrete and steel. His company was named the Marsh Bridge Company, and it provided bridges to cities and rural areas. The bridges included

270-440: Was cheap. Marsh's patented work allowed rural townships to have bridges that resembled the ones used over rivers in bigger cities. The patent was described as being "to construct an arch bridge of reinforced concrete in such a manner as to permit a limited amount of expansion and contraction both of the arches and of the floor". Marsh continued to building rainbow arches and other types of reinforced concrete arch bridges. Possibly

288-408: Was contracted to a company from Nashville, Tennessee , in 1929, and they used as much local labor as possible. A cable system was used to avoid problems with the mercurial river. The company installed lights and worked around the clock in order to prevent delays. The bridge was dedicated on November 11, 1930, but for months the residents of Cotter continued to use the free ferry system rather than pay

306-458: Was established in 1905 as a railroad town. The area used a ferry system to cross the vast White River, with the nearest road crossing being 100 miles (160 km) north in Branson, Missouri . The river would rise and fall very quickly, which caused the ferry to be very unreliable. Baxter County residents wanted a bridge, but were opposed to the use of toll to pay for it. Once it became apparent that

324-543: Was likely caused by someone removing protective sheet piling without authorization. In November 1909, Marsh's new company finished building an arch bridge in Dunkerton, Iowa . The Melan bridges that were built by Marsh and others required royalties to be paid to the American holders of the patent . The added cost of paying royalties made the cost of building such bridges with reinforced concrete very high. Marsh did not want to pay

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