Rockville Bridge
Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world, visible to the south, was built between 1900 and 1902. Named for the surrounding small settlement, it has forty-eight arches and a length of 3,820 feet. It is the third bridge constructed here by the Pennsylvania Railroad. A wooden structure had been built 1847-49, followed by an iron bridge in 1877.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
At the dawn of the 20th century, the Pennsylvania Railroad built the Rockville Bridge across the Susquehanna—a 3,820-foot span of forty-eight stone arches that remains the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world. Completed in 1902, it was the third crossing the railroad raised at this spot, succeeding a wooden bridge of the 1840s and an iron one of 1877. Its massive, graceful arches testify to an age when the Pennsylvania Railroad was among the mightiest corporations on earth.
Why it matters
The Rockville Bridge is a monument to American railroad engineering at its zenith, marking the era when rail networks knit the nation together and drove its industrial power.
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Nearby & related markers
Rockville Bridge
Marysville, PA · est. 1986
At the turn of the 20th century the Pennsylvania Railroad was one of the mightiest corporations on earth, and it needed to move ever-heavier freight across the Susquehanna. Its answer, completed in 1902, was a colossal forty-eight-arch stone span—the longest stone masonry arch railroad bridge ever built. It was the third crossing at this spot, replacing a wooden bridge of the 1840s and an iron one of 1877, each outgrown as rail traffic exploded.
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