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Simon Kenton Bridge

Maysville-Aberdeen Bridge (Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge)

Site ID: MSM-196

Between 1925-1949
Bridge/Culvert
Steel Suspension Bridge
Mason
CRA
Unless specified, we cannot provide site location information.

Summary

​​Consultants working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet worked to survey the Maysville-Aberdeen Bridge, also known as the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge, in 2025. These investigations documented the Maysville-Aberdeen Bridge/Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge, a c. 1930 steel suspension bridge that carries US 62 over the Ohio River in Mason County, Kentucky, connecting the towns of Maysville, Kentucky and Aberdeen, Ohio. It was constructed by the renowned bridge engineering firm, Modjeski and Masters of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, at a cost of $1.57 million.  The single-deck, two-lane, steel suspension bridge with rivet-connect, steel, Warren deck trusses, has a vertical navigation clearance of 83 feet above the Ohio River; it is 2,868 feet in total length and 25.5 feet in total width. The bridge is comprised of three main spans and fourteen steel girder approach spans. The superstructure is defined by two diagonally braced, riveted, steel towers which bear compressive forces and rest on ashlar stone piers.  The substructure consists of piers and abutments of reinforced concrete. Steel cables, or hangers, suspended from the main cables are in tension and support the cast-in-place concrete deck.  On the southwest and northeast approaches to the bridge are massive concrete anchorages, which hold the cables in tension.​

Simon Kenton Bridge

Findings

Simon Kenton Bridge looking southeast

​Consultation with Kentucky Heritage Council staff determined that the Maysville-Aberdeen Bridge/Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge retains the integrity to continue to be Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under Criteria A and C for significance in the areas of transportation and engineering.  The bridge was originally listed in 1983 (National Register ID 83002823) under Criterion A for its association with the Kentucky Department of State Roads and Highways (KDSRH).  Under Criterion C, it was cited as a significant example of a twentieth-century steel suspension bridge.  Since its original listing on the NRHP, the bridge has undergone routine repairs and maintenance in 1989 and a “reconstruction” in 2001 consisting of deck replacement as well as repair and/or in-kind replacement of certain structural elements.  In 2017, decorative lighting outlining the suspension bridge was restored.  With these limited alterations, the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge has retained its character-defining features and integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling and association.  As a result, it still conveys its significance under Criteria A and C.​


What's Cool?

​The Maysville-Aberdeen Bridge/Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge is an excellent example of American structural engineering from the early 1930s, an era of transportation expansion.  It is defined in no small part by the aesthetics of the Art Deco era in which it was built.  Spanning the Ohio River, the bridge is still in use for vehicular traffic nearly a hundred years after its construction.  Today the bridge serves as a memorial to its namesake, Simon Kenton, the renowned frontiersman and contemporary of Daniel Boone, who played a significant role in the settlement of both Kentucky and Ohio.

"Well, Simon, you have behaved yourself like a man today; indeed, you are a fine fellow." —Daniel Boone to Simon Kenton, after the latter saved the former’s life, A History of Kentucky by William B. Allen, 1872




Detail of the southwestern tower of the Simon Kenton Bridge, looking North-Northwest

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