Area less than one acre Opened 1905 Built by N. M. Stark and Company Nearest city Maxwell | NRHP Reference # 98000486 Architectural style Luten arch Added to NRHP 15 May 1998 | |
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MPS Highway Bridges of Iowa MPS | ||
The Calamus Creek Bridge near Maxwell, Iowa is a concrete Luten arch bridge that was built in 1905. At a cost of $900, it was built by N.M. Stark and Company, a firm which built several Luten arch bridges that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The Calamus Creek Bridge was listed in 1998.
It has a 25 feet (7.6 m) single span and a total length of 45 feet (14 m).
The NRHP nomination for the bridge asserts:
Before the codification of bridge design in the state in 1913, Stark built perhaps hundreds of Luten arches throughout Iowa, in exclusive contracts with Story and other counties. This structure in Story County is distinguished as the earliest remaining Luten arch in the state. In fact, with its 1905 construction date, it is one of the oldest Luten arches in the country, built in the same year as Daniel Luten received his patent. For this reason, it is a technologically significant, transportation-related resource.