Property Record
N7578 PALM TREE RD
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Palm Tree Road Bridge (P-20-081) |
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| Other Name: | |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 27175 |
| Location (Address): | N7578 PALM TREE RD |
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| County: | Fond du Lac |
| City: | |
| Township/Village: | Marshfield |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
| Town: | 16 |
| Range: | 19 |
| Direction: | E |
| Section: | 36 |
| Quarter Section: | NE |
| Quarter/Quarter Section: | SE |
| Year Built: | 1900 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19752018 |
| Historic Use: | bridge |
| Architectural Style: | NA (unknown or not a building) |
| Structural System: | Masonry Arch |
| Wall Material: | Limestone |
| Architect: | ALPHONSE HALTER (CONTRACTOR) |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Palm Tree Road Bridge |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 12/12/2022 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 8/19/2022 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. HAER WI-34. 2018- The Palm Tree Road Bridge is located in the Town of Marshfield, Fond du Lac County. It was built, and possibly designed by, Alphonse Halter around 1900. The structure is a rubble-limestone, 9-arch bridge with pipe-metal railings. The bridge’s length, including approaches, is about 154 feet; its width is about 16 feet. Architectural historian Richard W.E. Perrin noted, “The arches are of particularly good proportion and the entire structure has a distinctly architectural feeling”. The structure is indeed remarkable in a number of respects. First, it contains the largest number of spans of any surviving, stone-arch bridge[s] in Wisconsin (there are two 6-arch bridges extant). Second, it displays an almost classic Roman profile, also unique in the state. The Roman pattern dictates an uneven number of semicircular arches, with the largest span in the center flanked by paired spans decreasing in size and separated by piers about one-third the width of the arch spans (F,G). Although the arches on the Palm Tree Road Bridge are not quite semicircular (their rise-to-span ratio is uniformly about 1:2.5 instead of 1:2), the discrepancy is barely noticeable. All of the arches spring about 9 inches above the waterline. The center span measures about 14 feet 9 inches across; the adjoining pair, 13 feet 8 inches; the next two pairs, 12 feet 8 inches and 11 feet 9 inches respectively; and the end pair, 10 feet 4 inches. The width of the piers is about 3 feet 8 inches. The ring stones (including keystones) are about 2 feet in height; their width ranges from about 3-5 inches at the keystones to about 10-12 inches at the skewbacks. Except for the replacement of the original metal railings, the bridge survives in its original condition. By virtue of its Roman design and multiplicity of spans, the Palm Tree Road Bridge is one of the state’s outstanding stone-arch bridges |
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| Bibliographic References: | THE HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY AS TOLD BY ITS PLACE-NAMES BY RUTH SHAW WORTHING P. 96. Hess, Jeffrey A. and Robert M. Frame, III. "Historic Highway Bridges in Wisconsin, Volume I: Stone and Concrete Arch Bridges." Wisconsin Department of Transportation, 1986. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |