We all know that the last known Bollman Truss bridge resides in Savage crossing the Little Patuxent River between Savage Mill and what used to be the Patuxent Branch rail line of the B&O railroad.   Most of us know that Bollman Bridge Elementary School was named for the famous bridge, whose designer was Wendel Bollman.  Many of us even know that this bridge was designated the first national historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1966 by the American Society of Civil Engineers and in 1972 recognized on the National Register of Historic Places . 

What I did not know until I read the National Register form for the bridge was that there was a second bridge designed by Wendel Bollman near this location installed in 1850.  In fact, this was the prototype bridge designed by Bollman and tested over the Little Patuxent River at the Savage Switch station on the Washingon Branch line, just a mile downstream from the current location (see  the National Register documents and Baltimore Sun 26 Oct 1850, Sat · Page 1).  This was the first iron bridge used by the B&O railroad, and it proved the design  was satisfactory before the patent was awarded in 1852!  This 1850 Bollman Bridge replaced the original 1835 bridge that was lost to flooding in 1847 (see Baltimore Sun 09 Oct 1847, Sat · Page 2). 

The bridge at Savage Mill was constructed in 1869 and occupied at a location somewhere else on the B&O system before it was moved to its current location in 1887/1888 when the B&O formally opened the Patuxent Branch line connecting the main Washington Branch line with Savage Factory, and eventually to the Guilford quarries in 1902. The Bollman, and Pratt, truss bridge designs for the B&O allowed the bridges to be portable and once they were no longer structurally sufficient for current use they were often disassembled and moved to other locations, like the Patuxent Branch rail line, that did not require as rugged of a bridge due to lighter rails and engines.  

The current bridge and the Patuxent Branch line to Savage Mill was likely in operation until the mill closed in 1947.