1890 Walnut Street Bridge over Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, PA

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER)

East Part: (Pedestrians Only): (Satellite)

West Part (Lost): (Satellite)

"Built 1890; Streetcar traffic begins 1894; Rehabilitated in 1911 by Phoenix Bridge Co.; Streetcar traffic ends 1936; Closed 1972 due to damage from Hurricane Agnes; Several spans destroyed by ice jam 1996." [BridgeHunter]

Note how the ice jam shoved some of the piers out of alignment. This photo is before it lost the third span.

HAER PA,22-HARBU,25--1
1. General aerial view of west channel spans, spans 3 and 4 removed, looking east. - Walnut Street Bridge, Spanning Susquehanna River at Walnut Street (State Route 3034), Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA

And this photo is after it lost the third span.

HAER PA,22-HARBU,25--2
2. General aerial view of west channel spans, spans 3, 4 and 5 removed, looking east.

HistoricBridges
"This bridge is the longest known truss bridge remaining that includes the use of the unique (and historically significant) Phoenix columns. As such it is one of the most important historic bridges in the United States. The bridge is listed as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, one of the highest honors bestowed upon a historic bridge in the United States.... A testament to the utilitarian value of the pin-connected truss bridge, it took just over a single year to erect the entire Walnut Street Bridge, and the bridge was complete by 1890. Despite less automotive equipment available in the late 19th century, pin-connected truss bridges were often erected much more quickly than modern bridges are constructed today because truss bridges could be fabricated at the factory, shipped to the site, and all that had to be done was to put the pieces together....The majority of the Phoenix columns and the unusual associated connection details that give the bridge its character and significance remain intact. Most alterations include welds, added materials, and some replaced tension members."

This shows the missing three spans. 

Street View, Sep 2023

The ice flow not only shoved two spans off their piers, it shoved them under the Market Street Bridge.

4:09 video @ 3:08
Walnut Street Bridge collapse, Harrisburg PA 1996

I added the label "metalIron" because this bridge is made with iron, not steel.

"Significance: The Walnut Street Bridge is a representative example of a late nineteenth-century factory-manufactured roadway bridge. The bridge consists of fifteen pin-connected wrought-iron Baltimore type through-truss spans manufactured by the Phoenix Bridge Company, and utilizes that firm's proprietary column design known as the "Phoenix column." The Phoenix Bridge Company made important contributions to bridge design and construction in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century." [HAER_data]

BridgeHunter
Walnut Street Bridge is being built in the background.

BridgeHunter

Michael Forshey posted 15 photos with the comment:

30 years ago today [Jan 20, 2026], flooding on the Susquehanna River took out two spans of the Walnut Street Bridge between City Island & Wormleysburg.  A third span would later fall into the river.   To this day, this section remains abandoned.  It would be too costly to rebuild it.

Built in 1890 by Phoenix Bridge Company.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972

Once used for trolley & vehicular traffic, until Agnes hit in 1972.

Photos taken in December 2025 during the first of two times ice would form on the Susquehanna River that month.

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[These are remnants of the streetcar tracks on the island. The streetcars ran from 1894 to 1936.]]

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