The company's huge brick office building was built in 1903, two years before Ambridge was incorporated. If there ever was a building in Ambridge bigger than the office--other than plant or mill buildings--I can't think of one.
The "Bridge Works" office stood on Park Rd. south of the intersection of what is now 4th St. Most of the postcards of the building show the Park Rd. side--the east facade. The postcard below shows the only postcard or photo that I remember seeing so far with a good view of the west side which faced the rail tracks and plant buildings. This view gives a good perspective on how much higher the office stood than the plant which it faced.
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| American Bridge Company offices, west side postcard postmarked 1911 |
At the time this postcard was made, the western-most street in that part of Ambridge was Park Rd. Ohio River Blvd., (currently Rt. 65), which now runs north and south between Park Rd. and the rail tracks, wasn't extended from the Allegheny County line to Ambridge's 8th St. until 1945.
The photo below shows where the hill was cut away and a retaining wall erected when Ohio River Blvd. was built.
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| American Bridge footbridge over Ohio River Blvd. American Bridge office building to the right above the road Beaver Valley Times, February 13, 1954 |
After American Bridge closed, the office building was left empty, neglected, and open to vandals until it was razed at the end of 2013 and early 2014.
In August 2016, the only structure standing on the office's former site was a new borough sanitary sewer system pumping station on the southeast corner of 4th St. and Ohio River Blvd. This photo was shot from Park Rd. looking west. You can see a tiny bit of a former American Bridge plant building peeking between the trees to the right.
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| Ambridge Sanitary Sewer Pumping Station intersection of 4th St. and Ohio River Blvd. August 21, 2016 credit: Nancy Knisley |
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Here's a scan of the back of the postcard:
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| Reverse of postcard above July 21, 1911 postmark |
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